This is just emblematic of what Trump thinks of all those who swallow his feed. He really thinks he's just so brilliant that he can deal under the deck and no one will notice - much less question anything he does. Whenever I think of Trump, the term..."delusional" comes to mind.
15
Just watched a commercial on one of the non network channels from the Trump organization asking for people who love the wall to call the stated number. It reminded me of Peter Pan moment where we are asked to believe in tinker bell think good thoughts to make her better.
Trump is about to be hammered in the House and Mueller investigations. Of course he needs a crisis so what is better than the shoddy one that got him elected.. Stir up the base and all Trump's corruption will disappear. It will take much more than some deluded supporters good thoughts to make Trump someone clean as the driven snow or even a little less dirty. Trump is who he is and we must do everything we can to save our selves from Trump's endless swamp.
8
Most of the drugs entering the country come by sea transportation not across the Southern land border.
Senator King, speaking on CNN Anderson 360, stated that we can only stop 25 percent of the illegal drugs that we know about and that are coming into the United States by sea. Perhaps Trump's border wall will also stop the ship/boats delivering illegal drugs into the United States; I doubt it.
5
I have a good friend who spent two weeks over Christmas volunteering to help asylum seekers being released from the McAllen Detention Center in on the Texas-Mexico border. She soon learned that the refugees, families with children, were being treated inhumanely; they were kept in crowded, extremely cold rooms, without coats or blankets. Food and water was severely restricted, and they were frequently bullied, even kicked, by the guards. Children were separated from parents and put in close-by, very cold rooms so the that their crying and screaming was audible to everyone. Almost everyone was sick, as well as traumatized.
Refugees should be treated humanely, whether or not they will be allowed to stay.
18
If trump wants to do something about illegal immigrants he should look to his wife who came here and stayed without proper paperwork.
19
Rational discussion is not possible with liberals. Let’s try to put this in terms even Leftists can understand. We have immigration laws. If you violate those laws you are an illegal alien. Illegal aliens are here illegally.
Persons illegally in America must be deported.
We already have walls on our border with Mexico - more illegal aliens keep illegally crossing the border.
More walls will make it harder for illegal aliens to illegally enter America.
Glad I could help.
6
@John
Regrettably, you've rendered nothing more than the Rant of the Risible Republicans.
15
If this is such a "national emergency," why is Individual-1 just thinking about making it a national emergency?
2
If "a national emergency" is declared, one might ask "Of what does it consist?" It is a question whether the migrant troubles which have plagued the continent of Europe have equitable commonplaces in the U.S. By that it is meant that the horrific troubles which the U.S. caused in the Middle East was the source of much of the trouble with immigrants which subsequently occurred in Europe and Britain. If it is true that the U.S. and its allies in Latin and South America are planning destabilization efforts on the latter continent, involving the overthrow of the Venezuelan government, and more, and that this information has been communicated to some of the people who formerly resided there, then, having been forewarned, they have begun showing up at U.S.borders, doesn't that constitute a national emergency in those countries? It seems that Trump's recalcitrance has its origins in either the deep state, the military, or a combination of the two. Either or any way, it does seem that the trouble at the border could be viewed as trouble with the U.S.'s form of government, i.e. that it is now bordering upon, if not already a fait accompli as regards something like military dictatorship. It seems doubtful that an increase in Pentagon expenditures is the panacea, for where would the money come from, if not from Venezuelan oil fields. It seems that the RF has foreseen the coming difficulties, much to Trump and his controllers' chagrin. Time to negotiate on nuclear weapons.
1
During 2018, some 700,000 Venezuelans fleeing Maduro entered Peru, legally, receiving housing, food, and health aid, without any Peruvian complaining about it. We are less than ten times in population than the U.S., and our GNP is only 1.5% of its GNP. Why all the drama at the U.S. border with Mexico?
14
Trump did his level best to panic the country into supporting his immigration policies during the fall campaign, including his wall. Witness the ploy of sending troops to the border. Enough voters saw through his false claims to roundly reject republicans at the polls, flipping the House by a big margin. Therefore he has no mandate for the wall. If anything, the dems have a mandate to stop him.
11
Most problems can be solved by going upstream: beef up diplomatic ties, encourage education and literacy, strengthen trade, and create opportunities so young people have something productive to do.
7
' ... and, of course, $5.7 billion to build 234 new miles of border wall.'
I understand that :'The border is 1,954 miles (3,145 km) long, with about 650 miles of various types of fencing already in place through California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.' (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46748492)
With the new 234 miles of wall, we will have about 900 miles of wall. So, does that mean that there will still be about a thousand miles of border without a wall?
Of course, I do understand that the caravan of illegal terrorists from Honduras, etc., will be asked not to come through the un-walled parts of the border.
3
If the wall is so simple to climb over, do this experiment. Build just 100 miles of it, and then use cameras to count crossings. If the number of crossings over the wall equals the number of crossing done by people going around the wall within, say, 5 or 10 miles of it, drop the project. If the wall cuts down on crossings, finish it.
P.S. Israel's separation barrier pretty much ended suicide bombings and illegal crossings coming from the West Bank.
3
For those against the wall, are you for all immigration, open borders and no security? Do you favor illegal immigration over legal immigration?
Otherwise, the wall ain't that big of a deal.
5
@Joe Yoh
The wall is ridiculous. To make it happen would take much more than $5B. Not to mention, the years and dollars of eminent domain fights.
A wall would disrupt the migration of millions of animals.
If drones are fine for our overseas adventures, why won't they work here? Use our tech smarts and do something sensible.
14
Comment section is a fascinating echo chamber of liberal groupthink, spouting the same propaganda.
For those against the wall, are you for all immigration, open borders and no security? Do you favor illegal immigration over legal immigration?
Otherwise, the wall ain't that big of a deal.
4
Lived in LA for 30 years, starting out destitute and needing social services and saw how these services became inundated with women from south of the border who came to the US to give birth and fall back on welfare, food stamps, WICK vouchers, etc. Had a kid in a mixed-race marriage and watched how the schools gradually became 99% Hispanic while at the same time the Republicans were systematically sabotaging public education. My "south of the border" neighbors with their polluting gas guzzlers and "I love Mexico" bumper stickers were antagonistic and entitled and called me a racist if I talked to them about leaving dogs to bark endlessly in their yards 24/7. So now you know I was on the front lines and I can tell you for one thing I never lost the ability to empathize. What would I do in their shoes to make a better life for myself and my kids? The real problem is not that life looks so much better here than south of the border that people are desperate to come. The real problem is that most Americans do not understand the devastation left by virulent colonialism and American economic imperialism aiding and abetting corrupt Central and South American governments. And let's add climate refugees to this critical situation. To the victor belongs the spoils as the saying goes. And now the Liar in Chief has aggravated this very real problem to keep all the mikes in his face (he loves that) and distract us from his borderline insanity.
5
Great comment - it describes why we need to deport illegal aliens as fast as possible and build the wall.
America shouldn’t be the world’s refugee camp.
5
yes borderline insanity; that may be the diagnosis for Donald
Trump's mental state; and what Harvard Professor of
Psychiatry Lance M. Dodes MD and 33 of this colleagues who
are also members of the American Psychiatric Association;
Trump according to Dr. Dodes is a very dangerous man due to his
severe psychiatric disorder of narcissism...
Please Editors: re print Dr. Dodes Later to The Editors of The NYT
dated February 13, 2017....describing Trump who will become
more and more dangerous as time goes on.
There is a way to dismiss Trump from office: Amendment 25: Section 4..
The Editors refuse to re print this letter....and I have asked them
almost daily to do so....Truth is the option Editors not Conjecture
.
4
What happens when a borderline child who has pseudologia fantastica (constant compulsive fabrication in a child), if they ever manage to become president?
1
It's not borderline at all. It's full, frontal insanity.
6
"Translation: Mr. Trump’s mass incarceration of migrant families is overwhelming an already burdened system ..."
There are 20+ million undocumented immigrants, with many more on the way. How does the NYTs suggest the problems with the "already burdened system" are to be resolved? With more (unregulated) immigration? Broken asylum system?
It is also interesting that not one word is being said on these pages about the landmark bipartisan crime/detention bill that recently passed, addressing many profound issues in the criminal justice system? If this was Obama, imagine the paeans. Because this is Trump, accomplishments must be ignored or denied.
5
My question to you: are you personally affected by 20 million undocumented workers? Do you realize that they are not all Latino, but Asian, European, Canadian, Chinese? And I am pretty sure they did not enter through the Southern border!
5
It is time to head en masse to DC and let the peoples voice be heard.
NO WALL! TRUMP MUST GO!!!!!
wake up fellow citizens, out into the streets.
NOW.
J
10
Borderline Insanity Disorder is what I’d call it...
Bipolar Policy Distemper might be another.
Russians for A Greater America might be the most pointed.
If he’s not stopped soon, we’ll all be eating Crow Putinescca.
7
Border wall idea is lunatic, stupid and moron. Big man is playing chicken and scared by Limbo ( Limbaugh) and the Foxes ( Fox TV radicals) . Now USA is running by the extremist right wing talk show hosts and the toxic FOX TV. Trump’s B team members are more than stupid. It is very scary.
5
@ASHRAF CHOWDHURY
"Border wall idea is lunatic, stupid and moron. "
You're right. We should have a robots programmed with shoot to kill orders. That will stop 'em from even thinking about illegal entry. Not a single person needs to die unless it's their own death wish. It will protect the enviroment, cost less than a wall, be safer for the border patrol, and work!
Land mines are too old fashioned.
Wanna bet today's Democrats are opposed to any real security measures along the border?
Funny how the left's hero, Obama, was called the "Deported in Chief". When Trump does it, he's racist.
2
The American people need to call a State of Emergency on account of the lunatic in the White House.
12
"Without preparation or planning, hundreds of migrants are simply dropped off at bus stations in border cities. The Times found that, in the final week of December, some 600 migrants were unceremoniously released onto the streets of El Paso."
Trump and his Quislings are trying to create the crisis so as to grant himself the authority to use emergency powers. It is also no different than Hitler's Reichstag fire.
Trump is an "enemy from within." His lies, malfeasance, collusion with an enemy, criminal acts to escape campaign finance laws, and false flag actions demand immediate impeachment for Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors!
I and my fellow Americans (and the World) demand Republicans stand up for America and American Principles and demonstrate that enough is enough. Impeach and convict Trump!
5
This is propaganda, cheap and misleading, it does not even make sense to counter with arguments. But what else to expect from NYT the Hezbollah-type mission of which is to overthrow Trump.
4
@ss
@Kai
The NYT is worried that their source of cheap nannies and housekeepers will dry up. It's not about the border. It's about their anger over losing the election, and not allowing Trump a 'win'.
6
I'm glad this is in the editorial page. The New York Times needs to do a much better job of objective reporting and stopping their obvious bias from bleeding into their reporting.
6
800 million dollars to perpetuate concentration camps. Never.
4
Insanity? That's an insult to insanity.
Call it as he is.
He's a moron. Oops that an insult to morons.
You get my drift......
4
Humpty Trumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Trumpty had a great fall.All the kings horses and all the kings men. Couldnt put Humpty Trumpty back together again. How can anyone take this idiot seriously? He has no political experience? he has never worked an honest day in his life. He lies,cheats. His whole life is a sham. And this is who we have running the country? How could the American people be so gullible? It is sad and frightening. Hopefully, the shutdown will finally wake up the people who voted for him. And remember to not vote for him again. Wake up America. Take back our government.
4
Everybody stand their ground on funding for the wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for. When did trump state the American Taxpayer was fronting a loan to the government?
Meanwhile, 1-million plus families being held hostage to our government's inability to legislate, without a paycheck are heading for eviction, losing their healthcare and/or auto insurance, having their heat shutoff, and ultimately unable to pay for groceries.
All those automatic withdrawal payments have already hit their checking accounts putting the families in financial hell. Who's going to pay the fees at $7-$25 per bounced check?
But trump, living in a universe of alternate facts, claims he "can relate" to workers situations and that institutions will "go easy" when workers cannot pay their bills.
As soon as the Democrats yield, it sets a precedent for how trump governs: just shut down the government and wait.
This is McConnell's fault for failing to brings bills to the floor.
5
It is quite rich for the most incompetent president to ever occupy the office to ask for $5.7 billion dollars for 234 miles of border. Someone needs to look at where that money is going and whose pockets are lined by it.
Also, just try to convince me that those 234 miles are the cornerstone of our immigration problems. Congress has done nothing to resolve the immigration issues and Mitch needs to get off his rear end and do his job. This is nothing more than a wedge issue. The only realistic solution was giving Dreamers citizenship. Let them pay taxes and be a part of the country. It is the only country they have known and have been reaping the benefits of education and employment. After all, Trump has reaped the benefits from his father’s ill gotten money, lax real estate tax laws, unwary bankers and relationships with all sorts of unsavory characters including Kremlin connections, prostitutes, porn stars and lawyers who should have been disbarred years ago.
Most importantly, this behavior is exactly the behavior he should be removed from office for: incompetence, lies, cruelty and unlawful behavior.
When he addresses the nation tonight, I will not believe a single word that comes out of his mouth. He has zero credibility.
5
Another diversionary tactic from our American real crisis, a total lack of leadership by a corrupt, lying, inept, mysogenistic bully. DEMS stand strong together against him and focus on the real issues.
4
The Times shoots itself in the foot by listing this piece abutting one entitled "Trump Is Right to Seek an End to America’s Wars
The president’s desire to disentangle the country from costly overseas conflicts must be encouraged. By Jon Finer and Robert Malley"
The latter demonstrates that "progressive" Democrats are nearly as demented as the trumpkins.
Trump has tied himself to the idea that just about ALL immigration is bad for the US, especially if it is from non-white countries. This is pretty much the same outlook as his core of supporters. The problem is, we need people at all income levels. The FACT is that the vast majority of immigrants work harder and do better than native-born Americans. They have the ambition that most Americans these days have lost. I don't care if they come illegally - that is just a result of the idiotic difficulty of our system of getting in. If it was easier, there would be fewer illegals (and over 50% overstay visas, not cross a border illegally). We NEED more immigration - about 10X more according to most economists - to enhance the working age population. Our native population is getting older and we need the younger workers to fill jobs. Since birth rates are very low, immigration is just about the only way to do that (unless you all want to work to age 75 or 80).
The Repubs are just stupid. No one should listen to anything they have to say. They are just brain-dead stupid when it comes to economics and immigration. And trump is the deadest brain among them. amazing he can even hold himself upright these days. Total waste.
2
@Joe Rockbottom
"The FACT is that the vast majority of immigrants work harder and do better than native-born Americans."
Where is the evidence? Show it.
As for immigrants, we bring in well over 1 million, legally, every year and give them green cards, visas. They all create economic havoc for the blue-collar working class.
But I'm with ya on this point:
Let's bring in 500,000 nurses and see what all the liberal nurses think about that. Let's bring in 500,000 dentists, 500,000 teachers, 500,000 engineers, 500,000 programmers, 500,000 bankers, 500,000 plumbers, 500,000 electricians, 500,000 journalists....
5
Borderline personality disorder us more like it
2
The Chin Dynasty built a wall....it didnt keep out the Mongols...but it did put a lot of people to work...and it probably helped advance building techniques. Hadrian tried to build a wall too.....actually several walls.......not much more effective than the Chin dynasty's wall.......eventually the Scots and Welsh were just as much part of England as England.
the Russians built a wall....it kinda worked to keep people in........later many Jewish Russians would immigrate to Israel and build another wall....it works to keep people in...but not keep people out.
2
@Wherever Hugo
Actually, Hadrian's wall was pretty effective, as were/are the Berlin and Israel's walls. Less so the desultory barriers in Ceuta and Mellilla, which are overwhelmed daily.
The Chinese Wall we know and love was built by the Ming and was never scaled by the barbarians. The walls bult by teh Qin and Song were made of earth, no match for Genghis khan. Even so, Chinese defeats were less due to the wall than internal squabbles and superior military strategy on the Mongol side.
6
If Trump wanted to end illegal immigration he could start by not hiring them at his golf courses.
10
So your solution is what? an open border? amnesty for all and any one who shows up gets welfare?
how about we give it a try.
we can build a wall around California, then California gets to house, educate, feed and pay every one and any one who shows up looking to live in the USA. The catch is they cannot leave California at all. And Californians cannot escape this and move into the USA either.
Do this for say 20 years and tell us how you guys did.
5
And yet tonight our so-called news media will give this con man free national TV air time to promote his con. They are giving a pathological liar a platform to lie. Trump lies even where it is not necessary. Like his easily refuted lie that other presidents told him they wish they had built the wall. And this kind of serial liar gets free network TV time? To help him with his con game?
That’s right. That is all this is. A big shell game Trump is running and our “ media” not only falls for it every time, it actually loves and supports his con. Because it makes them money. Regardless of how damaging it is to our society, the “ media” play right along with the con.
“ Look! Over there! Trump is_______! Can you believe it!? Tune in tonight so we can sell you more smart phones and cars!”
And when that shell is moved to a new crisis Trump creates, our “ media” go right along..
“ Look! He moved it over there! Now he has destroyed_____!” ...And the cycle of the shell game con repeats...
That’s all he is doing. A gigantic con. It’s the single and only thing he is good at. And the “ media” is helping him destroy the country in the process.
3
Congressional Republicans could end this at any point they want to. Their inaction on moving the country past this idiocy is the real shame. Without apparent electoral consequences for them though, that passing a clean CR would be the right thing to do isn't enough to motivate them.
3
We, the People, need to declare a national emergency against Trump. Trump is a liar, a cheat, cruel, conman, obviously mentally ill, and no doubt, a traitor. This man needs to be impeached or have the 25th enacted against this dangerous man. When is this going to happen Senate Republicans?
I, my adult children, my adult grand children, their families, friends and neighbors have pledged or are close to pledging never, never again to vote the republican ticket.
Trump has no business being president.
6
time to invoke the 25 th amendment.
2
Build the wall.
Apprehend, Detain, and Deport ALL illegal border crossers.
Support ICE.
3
Every tyrant and autocrat had his mad prophet. His Rasputin, or Savonarola Lite. Stephen Miller gets it this time. He lives in a lobe of Trump's brain. Where nothing else can thrive. Weird is not strong enough to describe the Millers and Bannons who are or were courtiers to the choleric bum we find in charge for two years. I grieve for the flag and the poor and the migrants who have left nothing to find ....nothing.
The New York Times is against the Trump plan. He must be doing something right.
1
I am always keeping an eye on 1930s Germany with this idiot. Overdrawn perhaps, but events keep keeping the antennae up. Tonight is a major test for this country. The German experience was driven in part by lies, lies told so much that they were understood as lies, but accepted as truth. Will the liar now receive the imprimatur of the gravity of an oval office address, with programming broken into by the major networks? Will they accept the lies without contemporaneous fact checking and correction? We may go over a line tonight, and I'll keep keeping on in re. the dark times in Germany.
1
Checkpoint Donnie. So sad
Asking how many asylum seekers are fleeing life and death circumstances is like asking people in prison how many of them are innocent. Virtually all of them. How many emaciated people you see lined up in Tijuana?
If we really cared about saving people from death by starvation, violence and oppression
our southern border is one of the last places to look. This idiotic system of immigration we have is way out of control. Friends of mine who have immigrated here legally, two of whom had to leave for a year or more under an amnesty agreement think we are idiots for letting so many undocumented people wander around our country by the millions.
I hate Trump, don't care about the wall itself but democrats better step up and fix this system or lose again in two years.
4
This is what dictators do. Create a situation, call it a crisis and then claim only he has the answer to correct it. It's right out of Putin's play book and he must be so proud of his boy Donald, the useful idiot. Keeping the government shut over a fantasy issue weakens the nation. Other democracies then are also weakened as a result of the absence of credibility the U.S. has and it speaks to thousands of years of tyranny with the same or similar beginnings.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm still waiting for actual evidence of a crisis but am just seeing alternative facts and lies being presented by an unfit sociopath with some willing participants in the destruction of democracy as we knew it.
Good job trumpies. I'm certain Mexico is writing that check right about now and the HUGE healthcare package promised is just around the corner.
3
It will be a happy day in the USA when the entire Trump Cabal is dragged out of DC in orange jumpsuits with matching steel wrist and ankle bracelets.
3
There were three cases in recent history of people crossing the border to commit terrorist acts. That border was the Canadian one. There has never been a case where a Middle Eastern immigrant came across the Mexican border and attempted to commit a terrorist act.
I say- keep the wall, put it on the Canadian border, and make Canada pay for it! That's you, Trudeau.
Oh wait, the Canadians are white people, it will never fly with the Trumpistas. Oh well...
3
Am I not the only one who thinks this is how Fascism comes to America?
2
It’s time for this looney faux president to go. He should have walls- four soft- padded walls with him inside. Don’t forget the Chocolate cake-
3
There is something about Trump's artistic dealings that smacks of mafia-style extortion.
Oh, no, we don't want all of those brown people coming across our borders and stealing our tomato-picking jobs. To keep that from happening, let's throw 800,000 skilled federal workers into virtual unemployment!
"Nice liddle country ya got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it!"
5
"After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach."
Well there is David Leonhart's suggestion of impeachment, except for the threat of Pence as president.
Paul Krugman suggested that this catastrophe at the border could be called "edifice complex". I suggest, in keeping with the so called man's character (or lack of), we call it "erectile dysfunction".
Couldn't he just be put under house arrest for the next two years while We the People try to wash away the stain he and his party have put upon US?
2
A wall would do nothing to prevent a Slovenian sex worker from overstaying her tourist visa in the U.S., or a faux billionaire from entering her without a condom.
5
The networks should ring a bell everytime trump lies tonight. Then the fact/truth should be put up on the screen.
The lies will be rampant. Facts will be misstated. It is a waste of time to hear from this imbecile except for the opposition to get sound bites for political commercials.
Open the gov't and get rump out of the way so our gov't can work.
1
This immigration travesty is the handiwork of the Joseph Goebbels of senior policy advisors to trump, Stephen Miller. This far-right political activist, erstwhile communications director for Jeff Sessions, is clearly behind this heartless, cruel and unjustified treatment of children at the US border. His evil rhetoric is now manifest in bloody criminal deeds callously perpetrated by the trump administration in plain sight.
1
Lets build him a wall. A wall with four 90 degree right hand corners, three foot lengths, and 40 feet tall. We can put Trump one side and he will never see another immigrant the rest of his despicable life.
1
Yeah, Trump is trying to “cut a deal”. Normally called “blackmail” or “hostage taking”. But holding up back pay for 800,000 government workers who have nothing to do with border issues is called an “impasse” by the NYT.
Wonder what the NYT would call it if Trump shot somebody on 5th Avenue? Maybe a “lane closure”?
3
Shut-down #45.
What has happened to us? That we allow such a chaotic and disruptive imposter to be in the Whitehouse?
2
When will this madness end ?
How low will Politicians sink to before they connect with morality and common sense ?
Will this lying ,unfit , sexual harasser and debaser of women , spewer of hate and decisiveness elected by White racists be allowed to reverse the promise America for all Americans and destroy the prestige and leadership of our highest office ?
1
@VB
s/b hate and divisiveness .
The administration's CBP murdered 2 children through their reckless disregard for their health, safety, and well being. They have been ordered to disregard the pleas of children literally dying of thirst, they have put them in cages were disease can flourish and now are whining that they're being painted as the callous, disgusting people they are.
1
trump wants his name in gold on that godforsaken wall maybe every 100 yards or so to glorify that name. But in the back of that golden monniker, on the Mexican side, there should be written, 'Abandona toda esperanza, vosotros que entráis aquí', the familiar quote from Dante.
2
Herman Melville needs to come back and write a new book: "Moby Trump, the Great Orange Whale." The Democrats maniacal pursuit of Trump ("Impeach the Mother......") certainly reminds me of Captain Ahab.
1
I don’t know much, but I know this: NBC,ABC, CBS and CNN should not air this idiots campaign speech for an unnecessary wall tomorrow night. The “fake media” just needs to say no. No more propaganda. No more divisiveness. No more. No.
2
The GREAT DEAL maker fabricated the immigration crisis, not supported by the facts which the courts repeatedly point out, out of thin air. He will now negotiate -or not- against a Democratic Congress...who will not negotiate. And they should not. Because, this idiot, fool, baby child president can not be allowed to get his way by screaming and yelling about nothing important for no reason other than to claim a victory to waste my, our, tax payor money. SHAME ON HIM.
2
Borderline insanity? It could have fooled me. I thought he is fully certifiable. The editorial board is overly kind.
4
Attention NYT editors: "Build It and They Won't Come!" Trump wants at least five BILLIONS of dollars to build his cockamamie border wall, a prefab boondoggle whose only purpose is to show his gullible base he keeps his asinine campaign "promises." Democrats, don't give this MAGA madman one penny to buy one cinder block.
If there's any wall to be built the Mexicans can build one around Mar-A-Lago--and make sure Trump's locked inside.
2
Trump wants to spend $5Billion in taxpayer money to fulfill an asinine, campaign promise to a minority of American voters. No Wall.
2
Sorry for the reference, fellow readers, but this is reminiscent of the kind of phony crises Hitler created to get his way. Mr. Trump's transparent strategy is to keep the American people in a condition of ceaseless confusion and hysteria, no matter what mangling of law and administrative integrity is involved. At some point the Mitch McConells and Mitt Romneys of America are going to have to decide whether the country is more important than their vulnerability to Mr. Trump's capacity for slander and political retaliation. They still have a vote to give and a law to lay down to a criminal in the White House.
1
The "He Doesn't Know What He's Doing" Presidential Clown Show IS ALREADY a 6-month engagement.
Trump, who was speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday (2 August 2018) evening, said prominent conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity thought the shutdown fight should come before the elections. "You know who thinks it should be before? Rush Limbaugh thinks it should be before," Trump said. "You know who else? Sean Hannity. A lot of 'em."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/08/02/politics/donald-trump-shutdown/index.html
Since The Clowns' Shutdown didn't happen before the election, Trump ordered 5,000, no 10,000, could be 15,000 troops to the border in a support role. BECAUSE Clown-in-Chief had previously rejected Green Eggs & Ham Clown's recommendation to hire 300 immigration judges (in response to The Clown Posse terrifying and losing children), there were no additional resources to process the asylum seekers reporting to the ports of entry as directed.
Three nights before Christmas, Three "Wise" Clowns (Limbaugh, Coulter, and Hannity) pointed to the Shutdown Star and a Dreamer hostage exchange was born. Next, Mitch McConnell donned outrageously large clown shoes to be clearly recognized as a White House Clown.
Budget Clown's letter yesterday proved "Clowning costs money, and the Wall is a metal fence AGAIN". Tomorrow, after the prime time show, Clown-in-Chief will go down to Old Mexico to spend their money.
1
It's now 800 million?? What??
1
Trump's Insane Doctrine (haiku duet) "Break something then try - to both take credit and get - money to fix it"; "President Trump, Fold - your wall five times and stick it - where the moon don't shine"
Next up? DIG A MOAT!!
1
We have a President empowered cranially/neurologically by destructive emotions: so defined by the words: psychotic, aggressive, selfish, deceptive, mean spirited, ego centric, jealous, possessive, dishonest, power hungry, narcissistic.
Americans are in swimming in dangerous waters.
www.InquiryAbraham.com
1
Two words: Fake President.
1
Now there is a lot of blah, blah, blah talking about the crazy actions of our berserk president. What is wrong with us to keep putting up with all this nonsense?
The only real insanity is coming from the hard left. Citizens of the Western world (U.S. and Europe) are rejecting your destructive open borders strategy. Grow up and get used to it. It isn't them, it is you.
Has anyone considered that Trump's wall might eventually be used to keep us IN when situations worsen? Nothing is too far fetched for this administration, which is descending incrementally to yet more diabolical levels. I'm learning now from Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem" how the Nazi's moved step by step to final plans which initially were top secret and of course so inconceivable to a trusting public that it readily swallowed propaganda and cooperated with benign-seeming first stage arrangements. Not saying exactly that DT is Hitler--but he and henchmen (like Nazified Stephen Miller) are definitely studying the totalitarian playbook.
From your lips to God's ears...There is no amount of print media that will make a difference because the President cannot or will not READ. He cannot rise above himself----When you vote for stupid, I guess you get stupid.
I feel for the people not getting paid. Personally, I would not work for a government/company that can lay me off with no warning. Trump is still getting his Big Macs. What are you getting (those who are not getting paid)?
1
The Wall as envisioned by Trump and his supporters has always been a racist code. Sanctioning the Wall makes us all complicit in this bigotry whether we know it or not. And declaring an 'emergency' for this symbol only declares more forcefully this country has degraded into Jim Crow lawlessness. Trump in declaring the wall an 'emergency' and circumventing the normal way of funding mimics the tactics that Hitler used in taking over the German republic piece by piece in the early thirties. Hitler called it the Jewish issue and Trump uses the Wall as his non issue. Who will stand up to this? We need a ten million person march on Washington.
1
MEXICO is paying for the wall, I promise. Okay, never mind, tax payers are on the hook for 50 billion dollars. Because I really don't care but I want their $$$$$$$$ .
Trump is a Terrorist - trafficking in Lies.
2
This "opinion" piece is rife with political bias, misstatements. For example, suggesting Trump is the cause of people trying to enter this country in an objectively unlawful manner is sophomoric, at best. He's not causing it. By not letting non-citizens roam freely in this country, he is only enforcing the law, as written, and passed by the Congress. How is that wrong or inhumane? The authors don't even mention what the law is. The "opinion" authors offer no solutions, only criticism. What should Trump do? The only alternative is to open the borders, come one, come all. If that's your position, own it. Offer your "opinion" on why that's the best solution. Also, referring to minors whose parents are forcing them to attempt to enter another county illegally as "migrant children" is myopic, at best. These aren't children who, on their own free will, are trying to "migrate" to this country; they're pawns of their parents. That's a crime, in my humble opinion. And, while Trump is enforcing the letter of the law more stringently than Obama, all of these issues were present when Obama was president. Where was your feigned outrage then? (See https://www.vox.com/2018/6/21/17488458/obama-immigration-policy-family-separation-border). It's certainly ok to have an opinion, but should it based on reality instead of histrionics? Having said this, I also believe building MORE walls, barriers, fences isn't a solution. I don't think it will achieve its intended purpose.
3
"wants hundreds of millions of dollars to address the humanitarian crisis"
I would argue the "humanitarian crisis" was caused by those who promote open borders, luring illegals to the US with promises that they will be allowed to enter illegally.
2
@jaco
The crisis was created when the Democrats lost the election to Trump.
How in the world do you lose an election to Trump? Really.
You do so by suggesting that your first priority is supporting and representing the citizens of a foreign country instead of those in this country.
1
Like a salesmen in love with the sound of his own voice, Trump will serenade us tonight with a mixture of false charm, fake gravitas and manufactured fear. He will try to pass himself off as a leader of steely resolve, solely concerned with the safety of the nation and those poor, poor immigrants that he has been instrumental in demonizing for years - unless they work (undocumented) at one of his properties.
There’s no question in my mind the speech will be mostly bunk. The question is, how many people will buy it just because it’s Trump who’s saying it? And, will those people find the means to soften Congressional resolve to thwart Trump’s utterly misguided, self-serving policies? I certainly hope not. My heart goes out to the immigrants, asylum seekers and furloughed Federal employees - but Trump has to be stopped and this is the time and place to do it. No wall, no money for a wall, no “deal.”
1
Trump has not only NOT rained cruelties on immigrants, as you suggest, but in fact he has attempted to comply with the law which requires separation of alien migrant minors from adult detention facilities. See Flores Settlement of 1996 (entered into by the Clinton administration) and Lynch v Flores, 2016, in which it was the Obama administration that was chastised by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for his policies that sought to that deter immigration.
"On February 20, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia...found ample support for the plaintiffs’ ...contention that DHS policy [Under the Obama Administration] directed ICE officers to consider deterrence of mass migration as a factor in their custody determinations, and that this policy has played a significant role in the recent increased detention of Central American mothers and children." Id. at 174....In May 2015, the [Obama] government notified the court that it had decided “to discontinue, at this time, invoking deterrence as a factor in custody determinations in all cases involving families, irrespective of the outcome of this litigation,” while maintaining that it could lawfully reinstate the policy. Id. Dkt. 40. " This is from a history of the Flores litigation as recounted by the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Flores v Lynch, 2016. Trump is forced to detain illegals seeking asylum while they wait, to avoid no-shows, and he seeks additional funding to make their stays better.
1
there are thousands and thousands waiting legally in lines for their green card to migrate . These wait times are years Are they fools ? What is the message being sent to those who come here legally
I travel the world and every country is focused on attracting educated legal migrants . It boggles my mind that a national newspaper can advocate for people breaking the law while thousands wait for their green cards legally
The editorial board doesn't care that thousands of engineers and MBA .s have left the us for Canada or U.K. While you fight for illegals , where is the nyt oped on that .?
Why is there no op ed on the 130 year wAit line for engineers in Silicon Valley Indians and Chinese For green cards ?
Why do Chinese, Indians, Brazilians , Europeans need to show their passport and visas and pay thousands of via fees to come in by air
what is the message being sent to legal immigrants ?
The Nyt should be advocating for a startup visa similar to Canada and how to create jobs.
What message are you sending to people who come here legally or want to come here legally , to students ? To doctors waiting for green cards ? To startup founders ,?
3
The president is using 800,000 federal employees as if they were poker chips at one of his failed New Jersey casinos. In those and his other businesses, he strategically and cowardly cheated thousands of people five or six times via bankruptcies to sleaze his way out of his responsibilities of paying his bills and paying people for their skills, energies, sweat, and jobs well done. He's an expert at running things into the ground which is what he's doing to this country.
If each federal employee has two dependents, then 2.4 million people are being directly affected by the president's ineptness, his inability to empathize, and his lack of compassion.
Rather than being the expert builder he proclaims himself to be, the president is once again showing that he's in the demolition business and he's the wrecking ball. He's brutally punishing innocent folks because he can't get his wall. He's an expert at inflicting pain and suffering on others, while sidestepping any discomfort and inconvenience to himself.
It's absolutely ridiculous that one person has the power to cause so much turbulence in so many lives. That needs to change. We desperately need a president who is interested in building rather than destroying.
1
@Bill Walsh
"The president is using 800,000 federal employees as if they were poker chips at one of his failed New Jersey casinos."
So are the Democrats. They can end the shutdown.
1
@Susan The President's tactics here are extortion. Even if a compromise should be reached, these methods should not be rewarded with success. The Dems are right to hold the line against such tactics. Let the blame stay where it belongs.
1
Blaming Trump for chaos on the border is akin to blaming the judicial system for making Ted Bundy's kids orphans.
1
His campaign promise was based on his getting Mexico to build his wall? Why is the funding even being floated to U.S taxpayers?
Surely the time has come for the news organizations to begin to limit Trump's ability to monopolize his ability to dominate every news day, which coupled with his proven mendacity serves to only facilitate his outrageous lies with free and easy access to the public at large. His insatiable ego and disregard of the truth does great damage to our nation and must be checked. The next time he asks for free time to spout his lies, he must be refused.
This situaiton recalls to me crises where a single child can take a whole family or classroom hostage by throwing tantrums.
While we try to behave like adults and figure out a strategy for handling him, our fellow citizens are suffering profound losses from this out-of-control child. In the meantime, Trump, feeling powerful, rejoices and intensifies his idiotic acting out. He has no comprehension or compassion for the consequences. He is obviously disturbed, but we have known that for years.
I'm thinking also of that recent event where a teacher lost her mind and started cutting students' hair while bellowing the national anthem. The confusion and fear of the students, realizing that they were in the hands of an unbalanced character reminds me of our country's reaction right now as well.
While we wring our hands, Trump irrationally and irresponsibly struts and threatens. We the people have to gain control of him and neutralize his ability to harm us. This is an emergency.
5.7 billion for 234 miles of wall. That is about 23.4 million per mile! Can that be real?
1
Dear NYT:
Your thesis is flawed and betrays a deep and disabling bias . This was not only a "crisis caused in large part by this administration’s inhumane policies, political grandstanding and managerial incompetence."
This crisis -- and it is a humanitarian, security and political crisis by any objective measure -- also resulted in larger part from a broken immigration system, poor border security, inadequate federal facilities and resources, court rulings that tied the administration's hands, and a long, shameful history of presidential and Congressional failure, and political grandstanding.
Trump is at fault for the inhumane family separation policy pushed by his former AG Sessions, but to lay all of the blame at Trump's feet demonstrates The Times own inability to see past its hatred of Trump to play an honest news broker.
Sadly, The Times is not to be trusted (without double checking every assertion) in its reporting or commenting on any news involving the president -- and almost every story is now viewed through the Trump lens.
3
The actual border crisis, which the NYT refuses to emphasize.....is in the home countries of all these migrants.
The migrants are NOT flowing north to "become american"......they are flowing north in order to make their failed cultures and societies SURVIVE. They hope to gain money to send home and perpetuate the same misery over and over and over and over........ad nauseum.
A better solution to the humanitarian crisis would be for USA to invade each of these failed states and impose an American style system on them, run by Americans, for Americans.
It's a sign of the times that I suspect the government (AKA Trump) of wanting the extra $800 million as a gift to his buddies who run the detention camps. Or, perhaps, is the entity building and manning those camps a part of the Trump Organization? No idea, but it makes me sad to think this way.
Okay .. you build a wall, and we will build a small human cannon that launches people over it. They land standing with a sail. It's spring loaded so it makes no sounds. Good enough for dozens upon dozens of launches, and safe enough for babies. We make these by the hundreds, or thousands.
And we place them every 100 ft. so Americans can get out safely into Mexico, as their rightwing voters get increasing maniacal.
1
Why on earth do journalists - tv, radio, newspapers, on-line - give time to a president who lies with every breath. I thought the objective of journalism is to present the truth.
What will happen when the Trumpian Universe and the Real Universe collide? Will a black hole form that swallows both universes? Will only one or the other universe be destroyed? Will a wormhole form and we will all be teleported back to an alternative 2016/11/08 where Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election? I vote for the wormhole.
So the logic of the trumpty dumpty administration is that I should sue you for damages if I break my hand while punching you in the face. Seems pretty consistent for them.
When I first saw the title of this articles I thought it was about trump's diagnosis!
Apparently, the Art of the Deal is to take everyone hostage and demand your most outrageous condition be fulfilled. Good to know.
I recall Obama saying: " I won; why should I compromise."
2
The false accusation that there is a crisis at the border combined with the denigration of central American migrants and Mexicans with one broad brush is akin to the Nuremberg laws of the 1930s
Since all three major networks have agreed to carry the televised message of the Dolt-in-Chief on a calamity he himself created, I am shocked to admit that Sarah Palin got something right.
It IS the lamestream media.
There’s a malignant narcissist in town, and he is sewing seeds of anger and despair. His ignorance and lack of empathy enables him to destroy our democracy. He simply doesn’t care how his policies affect people. He is America’s Putin.
So, the VSOG(very stable orange genius) is in negotiating mode. He wants to up the anti from his first offer. Sure, Melania needs more 6 inch expensive heels and he needs a pot of cash for a get out of jail free card for Jr. Heaven forbid that we let this "genius" abuse us and all the folks at the border. Shame on the networks for grandstanding with his lying blather. He created the crisis and now wants us to pay. What happened to the great stump speech that Mexico would pay for his wall? What we definitely need is a great wall around t-Rump and I would personally kick in cash for that.
1
This is the free fall part of chaos. This is how an advanced degree in watching TV creates a political idiot-savant: Seize the news cycle by lying often and outrageously (if that's still possible), enraging everyone, provoking an outcry that's immediately kidnapped to divert from the original lie, then blaming the victims of the first lie, causing a second wave of denunciation, followed by an avalanche of ad hominem tweets featured as the front page news lede before rinse, repeat and blow-dry.
There's no agenda, just hot-buttons that obscure his wreckage from the week before. North Korea, China, Mexico, Syria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, a cabinet emptied by tweet, whimsy, and criminal investigation, letting the dogs of pollution out, bank fraud, corrupt government contractors, deteriorating infrastructure, egregious self-dealing, healthcare and education crises, tax theft, incompetence, broken global treaties, denying climate change, and that's just the visible tip of the iceberg.
The president spends more time with his hairdresser and wiggling his putter on golf course than he does on anything else, for which we probably should be grateful.
The American house is on a fire because the Fire Chief likes feeling important and knows it's a great visual for TV news. His great idea is to build a fence around the ashes otherwise he'll let everything else burn down as well.
This is America. This is America on Trump.
1
I am as Blue as it gets. However, a modest tactical retreat may be in order. We do not want to give Trump an excuse to declare martial Law-on the Border or elsewhere. He has to find some way to torpedo Mueller, a National Emergency would be a good way to start.
1
This coming from the man who claimed to have ended the birther dispute (after creating it, of course). Isn't there some story or parable about a boy who sets fires and then calls the fire department and claims credit?
After Trump, the US State Department will have to go on an apology tour.
4
The threat to our national security currently is hiding at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. Tonight he’s going to spin a story on national television that he hopes will cause America to look in the wrong direction and away from his lies and untruths. Don’t fall for it. If Mitch McConnell had a gram of integrity, he would be moving legislation through the Senate to break the shutdown and which could be voted into law by both houses of Congress over Trump’s veto. Unfortunately he doesn’t so this farce will go on but let’s hope that tonight Trump’s true self will be on camera and those who think he’s “winning” will finally understand what a mess he has created.
4
@David DiRoma: McConnell's handling of the Merrick Garland nomination was the most disgraceful performance I have seen in recent years. What an acid bath of corrosive effluvia that mumbling fool issues with every breath.
Peoples of the Southern hemisphere, worldwide, are trying to move to the Northern hemisphere. We who live in the North enjoy fairly temperate climates and no war, save for those in the MIddle East, which are detestable. Putin seeks to break up Europe so that he can begin a conquest of the Middle East and the Eastern nations of the EU...but I digress...
Given that the poor and wartorn populations want to move North, and nothing will cease their desire to escape misery, it's incumbent on us, as Americans, to help them, not hurt them. That was our 20th century identity.
The same goes for Europeans, who in fact, while they prefer not to pay extra sums to support refugees, prefer that they live, and not die in misery.
Climate change is making the Southern hemisphere hotter, water is evaporating and it's difficult to grow crops. Add to that major deforestation by the palm industry and the beef industry, and these people are left with a wasteland.
South America has wars, and is getting hotter, but I am not certain about the stripping of natural resources.
However, the best way to keep people in their own countries, barring ongoing wars, is for Westernized countries to go to them, create enterprises, do job training, create opportunities, teach green industry and agriculture -- make these people's countries habitable, so they do not want to move.
The North will expend dollars/euros on Southern immigrants. It's more pro-active to go to these countries and help in situe.
2
@Lilou: In a world this crowded, everyone's migrations are everyone's problems.
2
Only in Trumpworld could the NYT editorial be so true; we have a President who breaks something, then demands credit and a lot of money to fix it.
Trump will be impeached by the American people in November 2020. The vote is already there but even his supporters will slowly peel away as the whispers about his incompetence continue to accrete and take hold across his party and his base.
We should not waste time trying to do it via Congress; a move that will only unite his people. That route will tear us further apart, something we cannot afford.
1
The GOP has been in control of Congress, if they haven't taken the time for immigration reform which is what they are always complaining about, then who's fault is it. Couldn't be the democrats, since the republican party has made sure that they had no say in policy,
But the republicans need their monsters, to try and convince US that THEY (Mexican immigrants) are the sole cause of the issues that in reality, congress is solely responsible for. Since the republicans have abdicated their authority over the president, then it makes sense nothing gets done in terms of immigration.
2
The answer to the shutdown is clear: Time for Republican Senators to join the Democrats and pass a funding bill that is veto-proof.
The question is also clear: Do McConnell and his cronies have the personal and political wherewithal to do it?
5
Peoples of the Southern hemisphere, worldwide, are trying to move to the Northern hemisphere. We who live in the North enjoy fairly temperate climates and no war, save for those in the Middle East, which are miserable affairs, based on both intangible religious belief and power quests.
Given that the poor and wartorn populations want to move North, and nothing will cease their desire to escape misery, it's incumbent on us, as Americans, to help them, not hurt them. That was our 20th century identity.
The same goes for Europeans, who in fact, while they prefer not to pay extra sums to support refugees, prefer that they live, and not die in misery.
Climate change is making the Southern hemisphere hotter, water is evaporating and it's difficult to grow crops. Add to that major deforestation by the palm industry and the beef industry, and these people are left with a wasteland.
South America has wars, and is getting hotter. Natural resources are plundered.
However, the best way to keep people in their own countries, barring ongoing wars, is for Westernized countries to go to them, create enterprises, do job training, create opportunities, teach green industry and agriculture -- make these people's countries habitable, so they do not want to move.
The North will expend dollars/euros on Southern immigrants, either by harming or helping them. It's more pro-active and humaine to go to these countries and help in situe.
It may only be insane if you don't live near our southern border. If we seriously want to have an impact on illegal border crossings we shoulf be helping Mexico to protect their southern border where most of the drugs come from.
28
@sbanicki
Says someone who ... apparently doesn't live near the border at all, whereas even a recent border patrol agents report has shown that less than 1 percent of them believe that what they need to increase border security is a wall.
That confirms all other national security experts' reports, and corresponds perfectly to what the Generals in Trump's own cabinet have publicly declared.
The measures that experts advice (e-verify, 40,000 more border patrol agents, etc.), moreover, are already included in the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that Obama managed to get through the Senate (68 vote majority) in 2013.
Unfortunately, at the time (and since then) the GOP House didn't even allow a vote on it.
Conclusion: the only ones NOT taking border security seriously are clearly the GOP. And now they even stopped paying TSA agents and want to impose the only thing that all experts agree upon is totally useless...
36
@sbanicki
That's right, so how is building a wall helping the Mexicans protect their southern border.
8
@sbanicki the root cause should be examined here. The border crossing issue is the fallout .
you are on to something in regard to helping Mexico deal with their immigrations issues.
But we should walk that back even further and better understand why Folks have little choice but to risk their lives, children and Family lives to escape the environment they are suffering.
Central America is where the work needs to be done.
The United States southwestern Border issue is just the result of horrid standard of humanity from whence these People are trying to escape.
12
Trump is about to go on national TV and hold a gun to the heads of women and children
3
First priority for funding should be aid for Central American countries to help these families stay home. We should not need mass amounts of tax payer funding to incarcerate refugees. We have humanitarian organizations and host families willing to help for free. This administration continues to cause their own problems by terrifying immigrants and refugees rather than helping them. They need to admit they screwed up. We need to completely reshape our thinking and give not even a dime for a wall. We can not allow executive branch to use dreamers or federal employees or anyone else as bargaining chips. It must not work.
Trump won the Presidency and added seats on the Senate. Ala Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neal, everyone has to compromise. Wall funding for a desperately needed DACA fix. Not the end of the world to build more wall.
@ClimateChange -Democrats and Republicans passed a bill allowing $25 billion for a wall in exchange for a path to citizenship for DACA kids. Trump first indicated he'd sign it and then changed his mind and said he'd veto it. He had his chance. Now, not even McConnell trusts him to keep his word about any bill Congress could come up with.
3
Regardless of your thoughts on immigration, the Presidents actions here are extortion. He is holding 800,000 workers pay, and much more, hostage for this $5B ransom. These tactics should not be rewarded with success. Some sort of barrier might be part of the mix for a solution at the border, but that should be decided through legitimate debate and negotiation, not thuggish threats to innocent citizens.
6
What if, after long analysis and debate, we (American citizens) decide that we don't want ANY more illegal immigrants and also want to limit the number of legal immigrants to a more reasonable number?
We get to decide that right? It's our country isn't it?
3
@Lilo
Our authoritarian "progressives" don't believe the American people get to decide that.
As any parent knows, giving into tantrums only leads to more tantrums down the road. The Republican appeasement of Trump, with Mitch McConnell as its ringleader, combined with Trump's innate racism and desperate need for redirection (Mueller is now simmering on the back burner) has led us to this truly pathetic moment in history. The suffering of American families due to this shut down mean nothing to him-- he feels no pain but his own. So, let's make this painful for Trump. Turn up the heat Congress, and be relentless.
5
@Allison Let's turn up the heat ON Congress. Any congressperson who is supporting Trump's shutdown should stop getting paid -- and with no retroactive payback! Same with Trump and his family members holding those bogus government "jobs," and his cabinet members. You'll see how fast this ends.
We should do the same with health insurance. No more special TLC for elected officials. Whatever we get, they get. That will lead to Medicare for All -- and a much improved Medicare -- very quickly.
3
@LongStoryShort Trump is serving for free, long story very short.
It's a three card monte, Mattis and his deputy wouldn't cooperate with transferring 6 billion from the Pentagon to the Border for the wall. Commanders already on the ground would have told them of the inanity of it all. So getting the troops out of Syria was used to facilitate the removal of those guys. Surprise now we are not getting out of Syria.
Close the government trying hard to blame it on the Dems despite statements that he "was proud to own the shutdown" and breaking his promise to have the Mexicans pay for it first indicating he would sign the bills approved by voice vote in the Senate and then reneging on that after feigned retreat caused by Republican media.
Third one, go on TV and a. try to make his case to the public, b declare an emergency with disingenuous and false facts, say he is ordering the transfer of those funds fait accompli, then reopen the government and claim he not only solved the problem but he's a hero.
The non-thinking ones will go along with that logic, Dems will most likely sue over the emergency declaration, but the government will reopen with everyone both responsible and with a little face saving on both sides. I would have preferred DACA for the wall.
1
We've all wondered, since the beginning, where in the timeline of this president's tenure the authoritarian "impulse", that he constantly falls back on, would finally blossom into a full-blown, authoritarian crisis governing mode.
I think this moment (coming in at the closing of the net in the Mueller investigation, and right at the beginning of the Democratic takeover of the House) is that moment.
All the president's decent cabinet members are (understandably) gone. (They couldn't keep Humpty together anyway.)
We're having a "debate" about whether it's advisable to broadcast what are clearly demonstrable lies from the president tonight.
That the president's demands are hypocritical and absurd is not in question. The NYT reported a few days ago that the "fixation" with the wall idea, as Trump "began exploring a presidential run in 2014", originated with Sam Nunberg, who told Roger Stone that it was a mnemonic device, to get Trump to remember to talk about immigration, a hot topic for the GOP base. There is no "crisis", except the disastrous humanitarian one, that the president created. And which he could do something about.
No, there's no terrorism crisis.
Now it's just a "win" for the president. A $5 Billion dollar . . "win."
The demagoguery bus has arrived at the stop. All aboard.
11
@SSS
"All the president's decent cabinet members are (understandably) gone."
I think all of his current cabinet members are more than decent; they are patriots, willing to brave the unprecedented attacks on their persons and families that we have seen under this opposition.
@Oxford9
Nice.
No, it is certainly not the case that "all of his current cabinet members are more than decent."
As Leonhardt wrote in the NYT, the president's aides "have repeatedly shown they are willing to use the government’s prestige and power to help their friends and relatives make money." They have shielded companies they formerly worked for, and like their boss, violated norms when enriching themselves at the taxpayers' expense.
The fact is, most of them, even the very bad ones, are leaving, before the lifeboats are gone. (That is, if they aren't already.)
“the Trump Doctrine: Break something, then demand credit — and in this case a lot of money — for promising to fix it.” Spot on commentary. So many points compete for the upfront causes of this pain inflicted by the Trump/McConnell Shutdown. There's the campaign meme to help his addled brain remember to rail about immigrants and drum up the fear and hatred within his base; thus, the "wall." There are the radical right talk show hosts who bullied their leader and whined, "the Democrats get everything!"
There's McConnell's complete abdication of his duties as "leader" of one house of a co-equal branch of government, who scurries away and won't bring the bill to the Senate floor for vote, unless it's pre-approved by the president. There's the seating of the new Congress getting more media attention than Trump; there's Trump's declaration that he can't shift his position because he'd "feel foolish."
Somebody tell him, he is already seen as foolish and worse, a vile mix of corruption and ignorance. His latest Shutdown is seen as hostage-taking of Federal workers for ransom; or at best, extortion of the American people; his "wall" is seen as a medieval monument to fear, hatred and self, a con game that does nothing to address genuine weaknesses of current border security practices.
Won't watch tonight and be a party to his or any of his mob's lies and corrupt propaganda. It's a good night for family activity, instead.
7
I don’t put it past him to break things, demand money to fix them, pocket the money and when questioned to say “ Talk to my Treasury Secretary “ who is probably getting a cut.
Donald sits around waiting eagerly for some sort of major crime committed by an illegal immigrant—then blows it up out of all proportion as if it were typical, which it isn't; Meanwhile, all around the country mass murders and single killings are committed on a daily basis by plain old home-grown Whites. Statistics will bear me out. Let's also not forget that Duplicitous Donald also weaseled out on promises to deal with DACA—and last month spoke of deporting previously accepted wartime Vietnamese refugees who have long lived in this country. Xenophobia certainly is one thing at which Donald truly is the "greatest ever."
9
Can acting cabinet members vote in a 25th Amendment rendering?
Last Friday, Trump interrupted my soap opera with his hour-long news conference. If I were an advertiser, I would have worried about lost air-time to peddle my goods. Otherwise, the man's a proven liar, so why should I watch him peddle his lies?
So tonight, Trump is going to interrupt several of my favorite shows with his one-hour, two-hour nonsense. Am I going to watch the Trump Propaganda Show? Heck no. Again, the man's a proven liar so why should I watch? Now, if I thought that he might announce his retirement, then I might watch. But otherwise, no. He's not worth my time.
What bothers me (and this is admittedly small potatoes) is that he'll be on the networks, and they are just now starting their new season, so I'll be missing a bunch of new shows that probably will not repeat anytime soon. And again, if I were an advertiser, I might worry about the wasted millions of dollars buying ad-space and the billions of dollars in potential lost revenue from ads not seen. Not to mention how much money the government would stand to gain in sales and corporate taxes on products and services said advertising had generated. Imagine what that kind of money could do! Pay federal employees, get immigration judges back to work, improve security at the border without a wall, reunite immigrant kids with their families, keep social services open... All sorts of good things could be accomplished.
But no. Trump wants his show, and I'll be watching "The Breakfast Club."
6
With Trump's ring of baby-sitters such as Mttis and Kelly gone, we get to see the REAL Trump. He assumes that as president, he can overrule the congress and courts and just order what he wants. Trump is not to be underestimate--he has the backing of the GOP entirely, and can count on 40% of the voters. But his undoubted grasp of emotional intelligence--how to inflame public opinion-- is now challenged by common sense--Nancy Pelosi. At least I hope so!
3
The real insanity or perhaps more accurately the "Dreamer" fantasy version of economics and societal dynamics is the belief that bringing in 1 million legal, plus allowing 200,000 - I million illegal immigrants to stay in the country every year, when most have no English and 3rd grade educations and don't make high enough wages to pay any significant tax will lead to some Cosmopolitan Utopia. Particularly insane when most immigrants from the global south and Asia come from extremely violent, corrupt and not diverse intolerant societies and our open borders fantasists are claiming that inequality will decrease and that this nation will become more "tolerant" and that there will be jobs for these many additional 10's of millions of the unskilled who can't even read a manual or textbook when the robotics revolution this paper frequently mentions hits in a few years.
4
According to the lefties this is the only true way to happiness, prosperity and a permanent democratic majority. You would think looking at the countries we get most of our immigrants from that you wouldn’t want to import that kind of poverty, ignorance, intolerance and violence but that’s not how they see it.
This NYT article closes with the observation 'After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach.'
I would modify that observation to put more responsibility on the American Voters, who can come up with a better approach by electing more Democratic lawmakers who will not run amok and begin to unravel the damage Trump has already caused. Perhaps that message will finally resonate with his base-heads while he continues to rain his toxicity upon our country during the remaining days of his White House occupation.
8
@solar farmer: The injection of antifederalist judges who have been programmed by the so-called "Federalist Society" to advance the causes of state's rights and theocracy remains incomplete. They'll hold on until there are no vacant life-term seats left for a successor administration to fill.
3
The greatest justification for allowing the migrants in our nation is that they are fleeing war like circumstances. Refugees are a peace loving lot who will be our future peaceful generations in a nation rooted in war and warriors. That is why many hate the migrants. Americans are mostly averse to peace. The government is always the lair of the warriors.
All you need to know to decide who is right in this hysterical immigration spectacle is the Hispanics from the south are good hard working peace loving Christians. Weigh your decision on that fact. It will separate the Wheat from The Chaff.
4
45 is insane. I cannot believe this country has nothing in place to remove this cretin from office. We cannot count on the Repugs and there is no other mechanism to topple him as he ruins our country! All the lives that have been lost to uphold our countries values are rolling in their graves. Why and for What?
10
@EJW: there are multiple avenues but the McConnell’s of this world are so shallow and craven that they have no sense of duty to their country.
1
The unconscious always gets what it wants. Trump never wanted to be President. He wants out and his desperation grows daily. He recently met with Pelosi and Schummer over the partial govt. shutdown and with wishful thinking he told them maybe they would impeach him over the wall. Pelosi answered that that was not their intent. He himself later reported this on camera for all to hear. He wants out desperately and in his twisted mind he wants to go out as a martyr for his base fighting for his wall. Beyond borderline for sure. But his unconscious is speaking out loud and clear. He desperately wants out. Let's show him the door ASAP.
9
@Kathleen
Now why on earth would a President who came in with the best of intentions to help his country regain prosperity and security want out--you don't suppose it has anything to do with the multi-pronged, relentless attacks on his policies, his person, his entire staff and their families, etc., do you? Or perhaps it involves the FISA memo, based as it was on Hillary Clinton's oppo research conducted by a Russian and the subsequent spying on his campaign-- which actually happened after all, despite repeated denials. Or could it have been the shameless Kavanaugh hearings based on one woman's accusations about something she thought the judge might have wanted to do--but never actually did--decades ago when he was a teenager? Or the Resistance or the Women's march, which took as its slogan" We Believe the Survivors" when the issue under investigation was actually whether Ford was a survivor of what she thought might end up as a rape, but actually involved very little, according to her own differing accounts (4 different versions of the same story, actually)? Nah, the guy just "never wanted to be president."
1
@Oxford96 I guess you are OK with his incessant lying and self dealing.
Your feckless editorials fail to address the reality and danger that Trump presents.
Who's interests are being served by a President who:
Stokes national divide and animus in the guise of immigration control, healthcare reform and tax relief for the rich at the expense of everyone else?
Alienates Mexico and Canada, our closest neighbors?
Undermines NATO and the EU?
Starts a trade war with China while simultaneously undermining our allies' confidence in American reliability and commitment to rule of law?
Attacks the integrity, credibility and legitimacy of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies?
Flagrantly promotes and enriches himself, his family and his courtiers at public expense?
Transforming America from a beacon of hope and inspiration into an impetuous, self-aggrandizing ingrate does not serve our national interests. But surely it does serve those of our most dangerous and ruthless rival.
Its time to call out Trump and those who coddle him for what they truly are.
14
@Rusty Day
People who agree with your views have been "calling out Trump and those who coddle him" since the campaign, Rusty. Perhaps it is time to actually listen to some of us, instead of putting attitudes and words into our minds and mouths.
1
"Borderline" personality disorder says it all. Trump is a seriously ill man. He exhibits all the symptoms of untreated BPD/Narcissist Personality Disorder. That makes him highly dangerous - for our country and for the world.
10
@Mary Sojourner
What made it highly dangerous for our country were a climate accord which put our economy at a disadvantage to China's, even as China already had us at an economic disadvantage with unfair trade practices on many levels; what made it dangerous was an absurd "Iran deal," which accomplished nothing but enriching Iran. What makes it dangerous for this country is continuing support for open borders through which terrorists, gang members, smugglers, and trafffickers may pass undetected, as well as hordes of people who have to be housed, fed and educated and medicated, all while awaiting hearings they would otherwise avoid (and have avoided to the tune of 700,000 so far). What makes it dangerous for our country are those so intent upon regaining the presidency for their own party that they would rather see the economy tank than watch minorities enjoy relative prosperity for the first time, or regain their ability to join the work force. "Borderline" is a better definition of those Democrat leaders who, in 2006, all spoke out on the need for illegal immigration control but today call it "immoral." And then we have the "borderline" media, which showed pictures of alien children in "cages" and blamed Trump for such cruelty when in fact they were not cages, but children being detained by the Obama administration after it tried to ignore the law requiring separation of minor alien migrants children from adult detention facilities--Clinton's Settlement with Flores.
2
@Mary Sojourner
Well said!
1
He just keeps asking for more & more money from a country that is reaching a $2 trillion dollar deficit. Soon the country will not be able to pay its own debts to China & other bond holders. This has been one president who has a golf club in one hand & the other hand out for money that isn't there.
5
The Art of the Deal:
1. Manufacture a crisis
2. Whine about the crisis you manufactured
3. Back yourself into an indefensible negotiating position
4. Lie and dissemble while wallowing in pity
5. Lose
6. Declare victory
7. Fire somebody
8. Find another perfectly fine situation and make it a crisis
9. Repeat
21
BTW, have you heard, we're in a state of "National Emergency".
What a fallacy... delusional commander-in chief will be disgorging all his lies tonight about "crisis" on the south border that doesn't factually exist.
What does exists and develops is a huge humanitarian crisis, orchestrated by this feckless administration.
I guess networks will be broadcasting these lies to american citizens, who knows why...it was apparently a subject of big debate on a normal networks.
But if a so called president announces the state of "National Emergency" I guess they have to air this nonsensical lie.
In 2014 Obama's immigration speech was rejected by networks, it was deemed too political for TV.
So what's stopping them now, could it be ratings.
Seems cynical to me, considering we might be on the precipice of a dangerous constitutional crisis.
8
Most terrorists enter the States through airports, not via the southern border (as Trump would have us believe). So, is withholding pay from hard-working TSA agents (not to mention Border Security agents) part of the GOP's plan to protect America from terrorism? Who should get the blame if there's a terrorism incident perpetrated by terrorists who got into America by way of an airport during the Trump Shutdown? Hillary? Obama? The Fake News?
11
@Aaron
The issue is how many people--honest and dishonest, dangerous and not dangerous, except with respect to their numbers--attempt to cross the border illegally, which means unvetted.
1
@Oxford96 Yes, but Trump and his enablers are using the threat of terrorism and "Trumped up" statistics to stoke fear and create a false sense of urgency as it relates to the southern border. Trump and his enablers are claiming to be acting in the best interests of Americans and their safety, while undermining their safety (i.e., demoralized and disengaged TSA and Border Security agents). Keep your eye on the ball.
1
Wait, how did Trump cause a humanitarian crisis?
1
@Andio: By disrupting the established system of parole for people seeking admission to the US as refugees pending adjudication of their claims.
11
You want the whole list, back to 1970?
Because we may be here for a while...
2
@Steve Bolger
That established system allowed people to remain here undetained, Steve. Over 700,000 failed to even show up for their amnesty hearings. Is that what you wanted more of?
1
@BruceRosenblatt
As a clinical psychologist, it pains me to see how naive we are to the serious destructive implications of Trump’s multiple personality disorders.
12
To everyone blaming Congress, it was Republicans who killed immigration reform attempts under both Bush II and Obama. There is not ‘blame to go around’ on this. Republicans don’t want immigration reform and prefer to pretend that the millions of undocumented immigrants who have come in since the Raegan amnesty in the 80’s and integrated into society, many with American children, will just be magically disappeared if a new wall is built on the Mexican border. Republicans need to look back to their patron Saint Ronnie and realize he tore down walls and passed an amnesty and was still beloved by the party for decades.
7
This editorial, like so many others, fails to tell the larger immigration story. MOST of the illegal immigration is coming from people using legal visas overstaying their visa limit. Show us the numbers. The very diminished flow across the Mexico - US border is a minor part of the problem. Show us the numbers - the percentage of people coming across the border who are lawbreakers is very small. Let's start talking about the realities.
6
How much longer are we going to wait to bring in the professionals who can assess whether or not Mr. Trump is mentally unstable?
8
Who is paying for these hundreds of thousands, millions, of "asylum seekers" anyway? Let Nancy pay for them. She can put up a few at her house. She's a millionaire. How did she get so rich on her representative's job anyway?
3
Since most of these people work and pay taxes and usually are not eligible for government assistance, the answer is that no one is paying for them. Now here’s an even easier question to answer. Who’s going to pay for the wall? I’ll give you a hint: it won’t be Mexico.
3
Thanks. It’s fun watching you guys try to pretend that “jokes,” from Rush’s show first aired about what, 1987, are or have ever neen screamingly funny or cogent.
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus if you actually took a moment to look at what the law says, non-citizens don't qualify for welfare. That being the case I would imagine they will look for work.
A bully generally has few tools at hand, so he uses intimidation and harassment to get his way. Trump is a classic bully. Dropping the metering of asylum seekers and not incarcerating them would fix this crisis quickly. But that would mean admitting that these would-be immigrants are not dangerous to America. Trump won't do that.
2
Why shouldn't the "Trump Doctrine" work again. It worked on his Trump's own father over and over and over again.
"I broke it, Dad. I need money to fix it...Dad?"
The American taxpayer is just his most recent "dad"
And if we don't pony up for his stupidity, will he turn to his Russian dad?
Let's get rid of this guy.
8
This is no longer about the wall or immigration, it’s about saving face and pleasing their cult followers. The Dems and Trump have put themselves in a position that only has two outcomes, win or lose. While they stare down each-other yelling why don’t you compromise, the rest of us take the brunt of it. This is what happens when you govern by ideology not common sense. I for one get a nauseous at every article that tries to explain who is more at fault. Both sides are at fault. Just fix it!!
1
Anyone not understand what this 'wall' is-- that is, a monument to King Donald the First? Well now you do.
If the Hebrew Bible is correct, Hebrew slavery in Egypt consisted of building Pharaoh's monuments to Himself. Any volunteers?
2
It appears the New York Times' play on words for the title of this editorial has escaped most readers' attention. Mainstream print & broadcast media have been fearful & timid, for many reasons, to address the Big Fat Elephant in room, Trump's intellectual, emotional and mental unfitness to serve as president. Many in the mental health community, in their capacity and their duty as mental health experts and professionals, such as The National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts (Dangerous Case of Donald Trump) have attempted to warn the public of Trump's dangerousness to our country and world. Trump has no policies or doctrines-- other than to break everything. He then ask others-- give me a deal, pick up the pieces or better yet --- lay the blame on others. Trump lives in a fantastical world of unreality, pathological lying, alternative facts, with no analytical ability or ability to make decisions grounded in economic, social. humanitarian, political, diplomatic reality or common sense. He is irrational & only creates chaos. He has no will or ability to uphold the Constitution. He puts American & others' lives at risk everyday. Dangerous with his access to nuclear weapons. His border fight & government shutdown is irrational blackmail for his inability to govern. Any label of the border situation as a national emergency is grounded in more lies and unreality -- warranting a Trump emergency and a medical intervention for the president.
8
"The situation is an especially rich example of the Trump Doctrine: Break something, then demand credit — and in this case a lot of money — for promising to fix it."
When it comes from a government official, it's the classic definition of extortion.
2
What I would like to know is how much it will cost to maintain Trump's Wall if it is built.
@Gadfly: ...and how much it will cost to remove the eyesore and barrier to migratory wildlife when we start behaving rationally.
3
@Steve Bolger You are quite right. Thanks for your input.
1
We didn't have an emergency until Trump closed our government.
Now, we do.
Bravo, Mr. President!
10
@Big Text: The emergency began the moment this preposterous fake was sworn in.
11
@Big Text
We didn't have an emergency until Trump became president.
2
The opposition to President Trump’s wall or fence is misplaced. Current immigration law encourages those who wish to enter the country illegally to bring a child along and use the coyote system, which subjects people to rape and robbery. These laws are fundamentally immoral. Anyone with a heart would demand change. Yes, there may be better ways to control illegal immigration than a fence--E-Verify, ending chain immigration, modifying birthright citizenship, but Pelosi and Scumer are certainly not pushing for these alternatives. They do not discuss the implications on immigration policy of the $25,000 a year per U.S. resident—adult or child—that it costs for government and for medical care, nor of the effect of low-wage immigrants on the earnings and working conditions of the most vulnerable American workers. The cost of the wall is trivial compared to these costs; the vocal objections of Pelosi and Schumer sound as if they believe the wall would be effective in stopping illegal entry—just as fences around military bases are. If it were in the U.S. interest for a person to immigrate, anyone with a heart would demand the government pay for a flight rather than subjecting them to the coyote system—a one-way flight from Honduras to the United States is less than $350.
8
@Physicist Your oversimplification doesn't mean you're correct.
If the majority of the 'illegal immigration' stems from overstaying a tourist or student visa - and we know this is factually the case - then we have a problem not being addressed by this ridiculous wall to t*'s vanity. And Mexico is supposed to pay for the wall not the US taxpayer.
3
I hope you can explain this nonsense and hatred to Albert Einstein, when the procession of ghosts starts late tonight.
1
Trump's presidency is a form of a political vaccine for our republic.
A successful vaccine mimics the actual affliction in order to create antibodies which can oppose future onset of a disease.
We are living through a mimic of a South America styled dictatorship. We have the institutions to fend off the worst symptoms we we still get the milder ones to get a sense of being ill and to develop the much needed antibodies.
Now, if we can avoid the allergic reaction, we will emerge better for it.
3
@Vizitei: The US immune system definitely needs to improve its defenses against psychopathy. I hope it survives this fever.
3
The "Trump shutdown" is wrong on many levels. First of all, the hardships caused by the shutdown is artificially creating a national emergency much greater than the problems the shutdown is supposed to solve. Second, these non-negotiable negotiations by Trump are no different than dealing with a terrorist. The terrorist who kills innocents to get his will always say he was forced to do it. Wrong. There are reasons we have a policy of not giving into terrorist demands. Third, where is the congressional debate and public input that is supposed to occur before substantial policy changes.
5
@steve: Whatever they do, they have to do it because somebody else did it first.
...."President Trump rained cruelties on....." Solution?
For minimum common good, how if some form of "Ombudsmen Cabinet" reins in "rogue regimes" now and in future through wise counsel? A form of fast-acting, voluntary, non-partisan "checks and balance", working in cooperation with existing governmental apparatus?
@Hasmukh Parekh: The fractal of government needs to be taken to the next level. The UN was conceived as a government of governments. The US needs to demonstrate citizenship of government internationally.
Fellow Americans: Your government has been effectively shut down by Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. If that doesn't send shivers through you, I question your loyalty.
13
@Justin
@Justin
Fellow Americans: Your government has been effectively shut down by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). If that doesn't send shivers through you, I question your loyalty.
Pretty sure they could re-open the government: 5 billion for a tiny section of border wall. What are they afraid of?
We have spent trillions in the Middle East under the name of national security and those nations aren't even close to us.
How in the world do you lose an election to Trump? You do so by suggesting that your first priority is supporting and representing the citizens of a foreign country instead of those in this country. Democrats should run for office in Mexico and Central America if they care more about those people than Americans.
1
@Susan I would think that a norther wall would also be needed in Seattle to be fair.
1
@Susan Mexico is going to pay for the wall - keep waiting for t* to keep his promise to you and those 14% of you who want this vanity wall that will cause more problems than it will solve and be cruel to landowners in the deal as well.
1
Finally the NY Times seems ready to put a "He is" before the words "Borderline Insanity." (Insane.)
We need to stop pussyfooting around and talk about Trump's mental health more often. Not just in innuendo.
Bring on the shrinks, the therapists, the guys with the straight jackets and restore sanity to our great nation!
4
"The situation is an especially rich example of the Trump Doctrine: Break something, then demand credit — and in this case a lot of money — for promising to fix it."
1. Congress should have passed comprehensive immigration legislation years ago.
2. The rest of us have to stop thinking "anyone" is coming over the border. Most of the people trying to cross attempt to do so legally, by approaching Border Patrol. They have a right to request asylum and the problem is caused by US inability to handle the requests in a timely and orderly manner.
3. We have no business holding people who have not committed a crime. It is not American. If we cannot assess asylum requests in a timely manner, it is not the fault of the people requesting it.
WHERE ARE THE SENATE REPUBLICANS? They have a responsibility here.
And re the shutdown: How about holding the paychecks of the legislators and executive branch who are not doing their jobs to fix this problem?
7
Declaring a state of emergency, with no justification, crosses a line for me. Trump would then be arrogating to himself the powers of a dictator, for no better reason than he can't implement his retrograde policies via the democratic legislative process. Doing so goes a long way towards justifying consideration of impeachment. Republicans, grow a spine and tell your boy, in no uncertain terms, that he's committing political suicide, and he's going to take a lot of you with him.
10
Being from Canada and watching from a distance, I'm a bit confused. Didn't DJT promise that Mexico would pay for the wall? What was the turning point for the request that American taxpayers pay for the wall? Or is the headline "Borderline Insanity" the answer? We are starting to feel the effects of the shutdown in Canada.
6
Let's just keep the logic very simple:
Trump can be dismissed from office ;
Amendment 25: Section 4 of the US Constitution
It is clear to all that Trump is psychologically damaged and unfit
to be President.
So...from now on Editors please address your Editorials to the
culprits who are not using Amendment 25: Section 4..
Never mind waiting for the Mueller report; that report will still
be made regardless of whether Trump remains in office or not.
7
Borderline Insanity is just an ice cube compared to the iceberg that is this administration.
The first paragraph of this article tells us President Trump wants a wall at any cost to the taxpayer, but that the administration seeks to cut a deal with Democrats.
When pressed recently about the President's non-truthiness, VP Pence told us that it shouldn't undermine the administration's credibility in the eyes of the American public.
Then we learned that the wall was in reality a campaign catch phrase, one that candidate Trump could remember and speak out loud, along with Lock Her Up.
Add in the disconnect between what the President said about pulling out of Syria and what Bolton is now trying to walk back with the leaders of Israel and Turkey and anyone else who will listen.
So, are we to believe that Trump is President and we should listen to him, or that the administration is not Trump, but some other person(s) who are actually making decisions and running the White House?
Has there been a de facto coup in the White House that nobody has told Donald Trump about? Just who is in charger in our nation's White House?
4
For decades, Democrats and Republicans ignored the very real harm immigrants were doing to the USA's blue-collar working class men and women. Both parties waved off the very real cost of hosting immigrants with little to no education. Both parties gave lip service to preventing employers from hiring illegal immigrants or exploiting the visa system to suppress wages. Both parties gave lip service to border protection. Both parties championed more visa workers and more green cards. Republicans wanted cheaper labor, more business customers, and the tax revenue generated from millions of new migrants. So did many Democrats; however, Democrats also wanted to be global humanitarians.
We ended up with stagnant and falling wages for the working class in no small part due to the millions of newly minted green-card-holding working class immigrants, illegal immigrants, and their countrymen here on a visa. Add the loss of affordable housing with more competition for affordable housing and you get angry Americans. With liberals leading the charge, billions in public and private resources were directed away from Americans and toward immigrant families. The idea of people assimilating was turned on its head. If you wanted to move up in a job, or get a job, Americans needed to speak Spanish.
Our border issues have everything to do with economic security in addition to national security. Democrats lost the last election and gave us Trump due to managerial incompetence of immigration ssues.
3
You are blaming immigrants for a slew of issues that are caused by global trade policy and technological change. Mass immigration has been a constant in America since the founding. Global free trade in the last 40 years moved mid and high wage jobs overseas - illegal immigrants didn’t take those jobs! And nobody is going to get rich scrubbing toilets no matter how strict immigration policy is.
8
If the Dems in the House cave to any of trump's demands for wall funding, they've lost not only the battle, but the war as well. It's terrible to use the federal workers as front line troops but trump must not win on this issue! A firm stand now will be the turning point in regaining our nation's sovereignty.
2
So how many years will it take to actually manufacture, ship and install such a fence? How much will it cost to seize private property along the border using Eminent Domaine? How many years will it take to get the lawsuits filed by those property owners through the courts?
What we have at hand is technology. What we have is a judicial system to review asylum applications. We can also hire more Border Patrol agents and vehicles.
Some readers reviewing this story live in great fear of tidal waves of immigrants storming our borders. As a native of Los Angeles, I am keenly aware of the problem experienced by many hospital emergency rooms from the border up into the Long Beach area: cars of expectant mothers from Mexico and beyond parked near the ER entrances. They drive across the border, just as American tourists cross over to Mexico. They don't "sneak" across remote areas of the border. They are within days of giving birth and hope to deliver their babies on American soil. I get it. This can get any American grinding their teeth at night.
So what are the solutions to tourism meant for giving birth in America? I have no idea. But let's review immigration laws and how to reduce short-cut citizenship in the Congress, assuming anyone wants to get back to governing.
Frankly, $5.7B is a worth budget for revising immigration control methods. But The Wall is not the answer.
4
Ask the people of California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico: have we gotten along fine without a border wall for generations? Yes. We didn't need technology that was outmoded back then, and we don't need it now.
Who benefits most from this? Is it the United States? No. It's a huge waste of resources, for almost no gain at all.
Is it the enemies of the United States? Yes.
While this pointless argument rages, our energy, watchfulness and resources are diverted from where they need to be. The argument is itself destructive to our society as it divides us. But it is good for our enemies because it shows the USA as unsure of itself, focused on imaginary enemies, devoting our time and resources to pursuits that weaken us as a nation.
That is disquieting, but not so much as realizing that with the exception of trying to make more money for the wealthiest Americans like himself, virtually every move and stance Donald Trump has taken since becoming president has in some way weakened the USA and strengthened our enemies, particularly Russia.
Donald Trump's "By the people, of the people, and for the people," raises serious questions about what people, exactly, he swore his oath to.
11
@Art Likely: Republicans swear their oaths to God, not to the people. Why do demonstrations of ostensible fears of post-mortem punishments establish proof of integrity in the US?
@Steve Bolger Your guess is as good as mine, Steve. I'm just not sure Trump is thinking of Americans when he thinks of, 'The People.'
1
Not borderline.
124
@Orangelemur
I sent this before you did!
Nothing borderline about it. What a wimpy newspaper!
3
@Imperato Eh. The article title is a play on words.
Hold your fire until the Times deserves it (which sometimes it does).
Well, to be fair....when it comes to trump:
Stupid is as Stupid Does
4
This shutdown is pathetic and has had countless human victims. Had anyone considered the long term consequences? How about the federal workers who are getting paid until September. How many qualified professional are readying resumes to go to the private sector. Despite the many critics of federal workers / we need them and their skills.
3
impeach trump. he is supposed to run the government not run it into the ground. Come on trump give us a break and just quit now - you clearly don't want to do the work of democracy - if you did you would not be acting like a spoiled child and an obstructionist. The country voted in a new House in the mid-terms and rejected your wall policy and a lot of other policies. You won't be the first President to face a hostile House or Senate- Obama lived thru the stone walling of Garland and the no votes on jobs programs. Give us a break and quit. Go back to Mara Lago and play golf.
2
It doesn't matter if the Democrats come up with a better approach. We have a dictatorship, and it is't Trump - it is Mitch McConnell. If he doesn't like legislation, he won't bring it to the floor, allow debate and a vote on it's merits. I didn't have any opportunity to vote for Mr. McConnell. The House passed the spending bills the Senate already passed with a veto proof majority. It's more their fault than Trumps because they have the power to reign in this fool.
8
The "wall" is just a detractor.....look what is going on behind the scenes, taking the press away from what's happening......one thing, there's a group that wants to separate themselves from the SEC because of being tired of paying fees and form their own group....(that group is mainly bankers)..... This fake president wants nothing more than to shake up and destroy our democracy.
1
What happened to Trumps explanation that the Mexican Govt will pay for the wall? It was enough to get him the votes of the un-questioners in 2017. If Congress gives in now on his unrealistic demands for more money than we have already approved, they will be assuring him success in 2020......" Got my wall!"
Stand firm Americans. Pick up garbage. Do whatever is needed to stop this inhumane assault of the American way of life by a teen age despot.
2
@Harriet Pashman
You ask what happened to Mexico paying for the wall. Perhaps you have forgotten the illegal wiretapping of his phone call to the Mexican president, followed by the illegal leaking of that call to the media. Trump was trying to make a deal: you pay for the wall, we give you something in return that you want. That's usually what deals consist of. But the leaking of the contents of the call made it politically unfeasible for any Mexican president to agree--thereby giving the Democrats exactly what they wanted when they leaked it: failure.
Talk about "borderline"... In view of RBG's health picture, Impeachment can't come quickly enough.
4
Who in his right mind would believe that Mexico would pay to keep its most desperate citizens and those to the south of its own borders. If the government could they would hire UBER cars to deliver them to U.S. soil.
2
The "National Emergency" is not one of a border wall; what it is a corrupt, incompetent president leading the country dowen into his self-created swampy abyss. INDICT, IMPEACH AND REMOVE. The Trumpster deserves nothing less.
3
Isn’t it great that we live in a country, whose citizens are some of the smartest people in the world?
You look at all the others nations that have walls - Israel, multiple nations in Europe and Eastern Europe, and they just look so dumb. So many of our citizens commenting here could make millions advising these nations as to how dumb their border walls are. We American citizens know better then they do.
Israel said 99% of the illegal immigration stopped after they built their walls. They must be lying or something.
@Sports Medicine
Who knows if you have any statistical facts to back your claims, but you might want to compare the sizes of the two borders and whether or not the countries in question
are at peace with their neighbors, encourage diversity of thought and culture, and depend on foreign aid to maintain those walls and military protection.
3
He isn't addressing any "humanitarian" crisis. He is trying to fulfill his idiotic off-the-top-of-his-empty-head campaign promise he has been mocked into trying to get done. As far as any humanitarianism involved he isn't interested in the people crowded in Mexico waiting to claim their legal right to asylum. They are suffering, and now, Trump has Americans suffering, working without pay checks? The question is how much longer are we going to cater to his out-of-control narcissism. Somehow we have to stop feeding it and go no-contact. This isn't "borderline" insanity, it's full-blown insanity and needs to be treated accordingly.
6
All Trump cares about is Trump. FRAUD
This President shows all the signs of instability and yet so many in the Republican Party defend he’s actions. If in fact this president is truly insane, then the real culprits of building a wall and the overwhelming amount of other harmful policies and funding being passed daily lie within those who defend him blindly.
1
Trump obsession with this wall and immigrants is just pathological and bizarre. That is all he thinks about, day and out. That is not normal. If we didnt know better we'd think there is a one million armed army waiting at the gates. In reality it is just a bunch of refugee seeking women and children. Trump is not only a cruel man who has no empathy for any other human being on this Earth but it is safe to say that at this point his obsession is seriously compromising the safety and Democracy of this nation. His obsession is killing us. It's already resulted in the death of refugee children in US custody.
Trump is treating this nation like it was one of his failed companies: thinks the american people are there to serve HIM, that Congress works for him, thinks federal employees owed it to him to work for free, he thinks the DOJ and AG are his personal lawyer team there to protect HIM. And now he is creating a constitutional crisis by declaring a state of emergency like any dictator before him, not because there is one, but because he just, true to authoritarian fashion, wants to circumvent Congress, that has the power of the purse, to get his way. That is a gross abuse of power and NOT NORMAL. And the media keeps abetting him by agreeing to give him a platform tonight through which he can spread more blatant lies about immigrants.
6
give Trump his 5 billion dollar wall. I think Trump is crazy, the war is unnecessary, and and if I thought Mike Pence would be a better president I would want him removed immediately as she is terrible. that being said we lace we waste about 6 billion dollars a week in irretrievably Lost from the furlough of from half to a million government workers. the wall will likely Do no harm save to our prestige and closing the government over what constitutes noise compared to Pentagon waste is unconscionable. sometime it's worth humoring a crazy president. I hope that Mitch McConnell will be primary then defeated in Kentucky as his control over senatorial votes making this shutdown inevitable is appalling. the Senate Majority Leader has way too much power IE dictatorial power over legislation. this is unacceptable
1
It is worth noting that Trump ran/runs his businesses by using US Tax law to his advantage and that numerous times he has used bankruptcy to avoid paying the contractors and others who worked on a particular project...The US Government is now bring run this same way...You elected him for his business skills...lol...well welcome to the mess he has created..it will take years to get our country back
2
DJT will renege on any deal he bullies people into accepting to get his face saving wall. He always does, so it is pointless to accept any deal he offers.
I OK with a wall...as long as the promise is preserved and delivered ...by that I mean that Mexico -the country- is paying for it...."whos paying for it ? MEXICO. #MAGAMyASS
First the WALL! Next, comfortable rides home for those who got across the border. Let these folks fix their own countries!
1
"Without preparation or planning, hundreds of migrants are simply dropped off at bus stations in border cities."
"Without preparation or planning" is exactly how Trump "administrates." So much for hiring a self-proclaimed rich businessman braggart to "manage" our government of 320 million people and most powerful country in the world (soon to be past tense, if Trump and the GOP are reelected).
718 days since Trump took office (seems much longer, really), and we can see the accumulating results and disasters of Trump's "managerial style."
The results of Mr. Trump's self-proclaimed deal-making and negotiating skills are clear to see, and no better example than his border wall. Trump's fact-free, cruel immigration policy and its "execution" alone will provide a case study for analysis for decades to come fopr presidential historians, political scientists, and business professors.
No large corporation or large organization of any kind (including a drug cartel or crime syndicate) would tolerate such mismanagement, lies, blunders, ineptitude, and chaos as Mr. Trump and his GOP apologists have inflicted on our country, the world.
Trump is the walking definition of insanity: "doing the same [stupid, destructive, damaging] thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Is that the definition of the GOP as well?
1
Does any serious person think Trump — with his long history of being an employer to undocumented workers — gives a fig about border security?
1
President Trump, who heads and directs our Executive branch, is a terrible manager and complete failure as an executive. yet, he is protected from the fate anybody else in his position would enjoy: firing. so, perhaps the cheapest, safest approach would be to leave him in office until the end of his term, but isolate him from taking any actions, as if he had a stroke or fell into a coma. or, give him the Ghosn treatment and just Lock Him Up, perhaps in a padded cell. I'm pretty sure his administration will hum along like a well oiled clock even without him, aren't you?
Why doesn’t Trump do a fund raiser, like he has been doing for his 2020 campaign, and let his followers help him pay for the blasted wall? We didn’t support him and his agenda, we didn’t put immigrants and their children in jail like facilities, and we don’t want to pay for his mistakes.
Yet in 2006, Democrats voted for a barrier.
2
99% of them are not entitled to enter our country. The 1% (or less) can apply for asylum in their own countries. Also, the 1% can accept the offers of asylum by Mexico.
Please stop the blather. The vast majority of American citizens do not I repeat not want your open borders.
If you want to talk about insanity, insanity is over-populating our country with abysmally educated people who have selected themselves to live here, jumping the very long queue in which millions of deserving people are waiting.
2
January 8, 2019
We are surely thinking full blown mental derangement where Trump mentally seems to feel safe now having steel border protection from the aberrations. Especially after so many aids have resigned for their own health. Article 25 is the only path for the new congress that know what they are to do in serve to the health of the administration of the nation in its highest office - Tonight life is Trump Wiemar Cabaret surreal national shock politics in the name of obtaining the reality borders for our professional mature adult behavior to showcase to our best culture.
1
Now that we know Pelosi and Shumer will be speaking from the Capitol after Trump's nonsensical word salad of lies, I would hope they would bring up how Trump can say what he does about immigrants and yet his clubs employ illegal immigrants and his staff help them obtain fake documentation! Why people aren't screaming this night and day, I don't understand. They apparently don't want to make their comments all about the wall. But geez Louise, someone has to call this imbecile out on his lies and hypocrisy. And remind him that Mexico was supposed to pay for it. I can't take two more years of this. I don't think most people can.
Oh, come now - the border of insanity has been crossed long ago. Whose great idea was it to give a malicious narcissist *more* attention and power?
So, just let everybody in? The NYT sounds a lot like Merkel demanding that Europe let in anyone without restriction.
40
@Matthew I have not heard anyone advocating to just "let them in". I think most Americans agree that border security is important but building a $5.6 billion concrete monument is not the answer.
89
@Matthew Those are not the choices, but thanks for the strawman. Now try to identify a real solution that will attract the Democrats.
50
I have no idea why you think Not going along with Trump can Only mean just letting everyone in. Even before Trump that’s not how it was.
81
Trump's much vaunted negotiation ability really comes down to one thing: he is willing to play chicken for longer than anyone with a sense of decency and/or morality normally would. It's high time that train just accelerated right through him.
1
Don't you want to be a serious paper anymore? The arguments made in this piece just seem angry and unfair. Wait till African Americans figure out that they're the ones who are really being hurt by illegal immigration. The Dem party will implode.
4
I just want to scream.
1
No más
1
What if, we use this money instead to legally resettle these migrants in the dying small towns across this country in order to help revitalize these communities. Immigrants have done wonders for my neighborhood.
3
@gwr Are you going to chain them down? How do you force that? Why would they want to stay in a small town? Which small towns are you planning on victimizing anyway?
@Margo
Calm down. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of people trying to emigrate (legally or illegally) to this country are doing so because they hope to have a chance to live a better life than where they come from. As did my own grandparents. The United States is a big country. I've read article after article about how small towns are dying out all across this country. I have seen with my own eyes how immigrants have contributed to the revitalization of my own neighborhood. Nearly every business around here is owned, operated and staffed with people who have come here from another country. And they are almost all of them, great - nice, hard working and interesting people. If anything, these people are now the ones being threatened by gentrification. I'm just hypothesizing about giving people and towns a second chance (not chaining anyone whose language you can't understand in your driveway, or behind chain link fences along the Mexican border.)
My seven year old could come up with a better approach.
1
This editorial omits the reason that Trump is able to damage our nation, our government and so many lives with such ease. That reason is the Republican Party and specifically the Republicans serving in congress.
Without their slavish support Trump would be nothing. They give him is power. They are just as much to blame for this border mess and needless shutdown as Trump is.
Until the press turns it's attention to those Republicans (who are blinded by their selfish partisanship to the point of sedition) and makes their lives uncomfortable, especially the GOP senators who are politically vulnerable, Trump will continue his anti-American agenda.
1
I'll be counting the seconds until he says "My administration has done more in two years than any other president in history."
1
"Mr. Trump even threatened to declare a national emergency in order to get his wall built without Congress’s approval — a move guaranteed to prompt a ferocious legal challenge."
The "national emergency" is certainly not Mr. Trump's ill-conceived, fantasy border wall; it is Mr. Trump.
3
NYT Editorial Board: call for Trump's resignation. It's time.
President Erdogan refused to meet with NSA advisor John Bolton today - largely because what the administration says is its Syria policy is not the same thing as what Trump is tweeting.
This is chaos. Other countries do not believe us or trust us. Other countries appear to be deciding our foreign policy by having their leaders talk to Trump on private phone lines so nobody knows what is said. Trump talks privately with Putin (Putin says "frequently"), Erdogan, Netanyahu and others with no accountability to the administration or intelligence agencies about what is said or agreed to.
This is the United States of America that Trump is daily discrediting, undermining and shredding in our standing in the world.
Just wait until something really bad happens. It's coming.
Trump is inviting bad actors to mess with us.
9-1-1
2
I’m actually all for this, let them be puzzled and uncertain. They are not our friends even if they are bogus allies. They need us more than we need them but they work against us and our allies so yea let them play with their heads and that also forces them to use $ to do that.
As a woman who was married to an extreme narcissist, I can speak with certainty that DT's behavior is driven by his complete lack compassion and need to create chaos in order to feel empowered. My ex told me that if someone 'wrongs' him that he gets them back 3 times over. It's more the perception of being 'wronged' than an actual act. We see this type of behavior in DT everyday. There is no logic to the narcissist's behavior. Stop looking for a solution. Time for the national divorce between DT and the rest of America.
4
He alone broke it. He alone can fix it. He won't because he can't admit he was wrong. So the fake crisis is now a real one, but not the one he designed. And he's about to escalate it again rather than acknowledging his error. Shame on him and every enabler who let this fox (and Fox) into the henhouse.
2
Okay, let's give Trump his wall, but build it with solar panels! We can tackle climate change and homeland security at the same time!
3
The major networks denied Obama airtime to discuss immigration. They should deny Trump, period. This is him campaigning...not seeking to fix the things he's further breaking.
Pelosi and Schumer better sell, sell hard and with reality, how Trump is not fit to remedy immigration, or fix what he's breaking. To point out every place he has failed to do the very basics of his job, pointing to how little he cares for America and its citizens. Point out how unfit his WH staff is, that they have no idea what the Govt does, and how it does it. And by whom!
Schumer better muster some serious energy for this...show real passion. And Pelosi better not stammer her way thru...
They have to show leadership, not appear like this is about getting back at Trump. Dismantle his illogical points, one by one. Make the case for how unfit Trump and his staff are, in real time.
1
That Trump has been given national television airtime to present his racist case for the wall, without the opposing side presenting their case, is incredibly irresponsible. Media outlets are permitting the dispersal of racist, not fact-based propaganda, under the false pretext of national security. It's criminal, and sets a dangerous precedent. Trump is bending the media he so detests to his will, and I cannot understand their compliance.
We have a shortage of civil servants at the border, and an Administration that refuses to follow the law.
The reason for families being stockpiled in heatless tents at the border is because the government refuses to hire enough civil servants to process applications, and now they're limiting the number of immigration judges.
This is entirely against U.S. law. Trump and his sycophants have created a problem by not following the law.
Immigration numbers are way down. The border patrol doesn't need beefing up or high tech, perhaps with the exception of drones. A fence, if you fly over the Southern border, would be logistically impossible to build because of the sheer cliffs of the Rio Grande valley, and the hundreds of miles of mountains, not to mention taking land by eminent domain. It would cost way more than $5.6 billion, and we do not have a national security problem at the border in the first place.
The media, tonight, is being used as a weapon of propaganda. So much for journalism.
@Lilou Is it better to initiate construction during a lull in activity or during one of these "surges"? Do you plan to replace your roof when it's raining, only to defer the work once the sun shines?
@Margo--peoples of the Southern hemisphere, worldwide, are trying to move to the Northern hemisphere. We who live in the North enjoy fairly temperate climates and no war, save for those in the MIddle East, which I detest. Putin seeks to break up Europe so that he can begin a conquest of the Middle East and the Eastern nations of the EU...but I digress...
Given that the poor and wartorn populations want to move North, and nothing will cease their desire to escape misery, it's incumbent on us, as Americans, to help them, not hurt them. That was our 20th century identity.
The same goes for Europeans, who in fact, while they prefer not to pay extra sums to support refugees, prefer that they live, and not die in misery.
Climate change is making the Southern hemisphere hotter, water is evaporating and it's difficult to grow crops. Add to that major deforestation by the palm industry and the beef industry, and these people are left with a wasteland.
South America has wars, and is getting hotter, but I am not certain about the stripping of natural resources.
However, the best way to keep people in their own countries, barring ongoing wars, is for Westernized countries to go to them, create enterprises, do job training, create opportunities, teach green industry and agriculture -- make these people's countries habitable, so they do not want to move.
The North will expend dollars/euros on Southern immigrants. It's more pro-active to go to these countries and help in situe.
Throw a tantrum that wreaks havoc in your backyard, in your neighbor's backyard, in your town, city, state, country, world. Then pout, stamp your foot, and demand that everyone adversely affected fork over the money to pay for the clean up. That is Trump's "governing" style in a nutshell. Enough already!
2
Migrant crisis proceeds Trump. United Fruit Compnay to annexation of Arizona and New Mexico to Reagan era “low intensity conflict” support of authoritarian regimes. This is a crisis over 100 years in the making by US.
I don't particularly want to reward Trump with money to build a wall but if the money actually goes to reduce illegal immigration I'm for it. I support legal immigration, particularly if it is based on skills. Failure to do anything about the illegal immigrants on our southern border will result is what has been happening in Europe. I am all for increased aid to our southern neighbors if it goes to reduce the reasons for people taking a long and dangerous journey to the USA. One doesn't have to have a actual wall, but a set of barriers that result in a selective reduction of illegals is worthwhile. This is analogous to our set of blood brain barriers that lets the good in and keeps out the bad. A wall may work some places, but there will be better measures elsewhere. Illegal immigration has to be dealt with and will be even more challenging as climate change/global warming increases. The democrats are not right on immigration but the rigid strategy proposed by Trump is far from sensible and humane.
6
What's another 10 or 20 million illegal entrants pouring into our country? Why would we want to prevent that from happening?
5
Trump's enabler, McConnell has proven that he's going to obstruct legislation. A 2/3rds majority vote on the bill that had already passed unanimously - which McConnell tabled instead - would have stopped this insanity.
These influence-peddling criminals should BOTH be impeached.
1
Can we please, PLEASE, get some adults in the room? Trump needs to back off his wall demands, but Pelosi and Schumer need to stop being the other half of the problem. I know, I know- judging by the comments here just about everyone believes Trump is 100% responsible and the Dems are angels. Sorry, they're ALL calculating, hard nosed politicians. You don't think that if the Dems saw this as a losing battle they'd cave in a NY minute despite all their holier than thou rhetoric? That, in a nutshell, is the problem- both sides believe they're scoring points with their 'no compromise' stance. As far as I'm concerned, a pox on both their houses.
1
Though I will in the interest of being informed watch the commentary on the speech. I will not give him my airtime this evening. A Netflix/ Streaming evening it is. I will deal with the content of his speech tomorrow.
U.S.A. should rather invest their money helping Mexican institutions to consolidate a real democracy, eradicate corruption, weaken narco's power and make it a safe country.
Mexico is a mess right now, and I would not travel there even drunk. So I understand the concerns of many U.S. voters.
But if - example given - there were a serious Mexican Police watching the border I'm pretty sure the illegal immigration problem would show a significant decrease.
@Daniel R. Maybe Spain could arrange to support the Mexican government in that way instead.
Obviously you don’t know much about Mexico. This country is far from being ‘a mess.’
Why wasn’t this a priority when Republicans had all the power over the last two years? Did they really think with Democrats will give them money for a wall after the elections in which they most likely lose the house? Did they wait on purpose so they can have some ridiculous argument to blame Democrats?
Sorry Donald, your continuous slide in popularity doesn't make for a "national emergency."
Also, any 'supposed' new revenue from trade deals is money that belongs to the United States and its citizens and DOESN'T mean that Mexico is paying for the wall.
So, Mr. "great negotiator" when exactly is Mexico could to send you a check?
1
Donald Trump won the presidency mainly on his promise to control our borders and illegal immigration, an appeal that resonated with enough Americans to win the election. Under Obama, Democrats approved $41 billion yearly to give away in foreign aid. Yet now they can't find $5 billion to protect our own borders? Tell me, who's really thwarting what our nation said it wanted in the 2016 election?
3
Average everyday folks like us will not properly judge a President. HISTORY judges Presidents. What will History say about Donald Trump?
Trump's strategy is similar to the one used by the boy who murders his parents and then asks the court for leniency due to being an orphan.
It won't work.
1
Border "policy" might be insane, but the insanity is well over the border.
I find this whole government shutdown and wall demand to be preposterous and extremely offensive conduct by the President. But, if it is going to continue, I suggest that the Secret Service men and women who are not getting paid take some time off. Surely, you are as "sick" as I am, and you deserve a rest and time away from the President. Plus, the President has said, time and again, that he can take care of everything himself. So, let him play Secret Service Man and see how he likes that.
Here's an apt metaphor: Trump has taken a massive dump on the American people that will take decades if ever to clean up. The GOP has been cheering him on the whole time. Trump and the GOP are fully responsible for this mess and they continue to resist cleaning it up.
Since Trump caused the problems at the border with his cruelty and inhumanity, he should pay for the results of his misfeasance out of his pocket or do a Go Fund It with his adoring base. I do not want my taxpayer money to pay for his temper tantrums. Same goes for the government workers' loss of pay. That payroll should be shifted to his private account since he was the one who wanted to shut down the government. I hope his government checks as pay for his "job" as well as for his unethical conduct of doing business while in office have been stopped as well. Fair and equitable!
Crimes against humanity again. WHO WILL HAVE THE COURAGE TO TAKE THIS PRESIDENT ON??? Some must prosecute to get him out of office. It will take years to recover.
2
I have started typing a comment five times and each time I feel stupider and more incredulous that this conversation continues. Are there really not 60 United States Senators who can see this for what it is and love their country more than their office....I guess not.
I hope to god I can get over the wall Canada will build in the near future.
George Osborne was quoted once" we must bring unity of spirit and purpose and condemn hatred and division wherever we see it, "but I don't think that was a thought in anyone's mind recently so i'll leave a small poem to the rhyme of "Humpty Dumpty,"..... "Donald Trumpy wanted a wall , Pelosi said not one dollar at all, the Republican leaders with Fox and Friends ,couldn't put Trumpy together again
Protecting Americans. I support that.
2
The best way to protect Americans would be to impeach Trump and throw him out if office.
A 2/3rds majority vote is veto-proof, but Mitch McConnell tabled a bill that had earlier been approved by both parties almost unanimously after hearing that Trump changed his mind about signing it.
He allowed the corrupt birther to over-ride the bill instead of the other way around.
The furloughed workers should be gathering at McConnell's door. The disabled did that when McConnell tried to destroy their healthcare benefits.
Why aren't these workers getting out and protesting. The Senate is not Trump's regal court, but McConnell and Trump's other enablers are making it one.
Impeach both Trump AND McConnell. They're both a national disgrace (as well as a nationalist disgrace).
McConnell destroyed his own party, he should not get away with destroying the country as well.
1
If the government is shut down, who pays for TRUMP'S expensive boondoggle trip to the border: Air Force One,
Marine One and local helicopter, Secret Service, all the rest?
What's taking Mueller so long ? We need indictments of all who perjured along with their children, like Flynn's son no sweetheart deals for any family who testified under oath like Donald Jr.
Trump has neither rained cruelty on "immigrants" which should read "illegal immigrants" or asylum seekers. Many of the comments here would have us believe that anything less than wide open borders is cruel and immoral. What's cruel and immoral is subjecting innocent Americans to the many costs imposed on us by illegals who have no respect for us or our laws, illegals who enter by any fraudulent means that work for them, and are here to take as much as they can from us. The total cost of a seamless wall is but a small fraction of what American taxpayers lose to funding the cradle to grave lives of illegal aliens in just one year. Of course no amount of money accounts for the lives of Americans that are lost and damaged due to the actions of illegals present in our country. What's really insane here is that we have a major political party in the Democrats who've staked out a clearly unamerican position on illegal immigration. Their actions are both despicable and treasonous.
39
@Cirago Managerial incompetence are the words best used to describe Trump. Your particular take on things resembles him.
81
The overwhelming majority of these people work in low paying jobs, pay taxes, obey the law, and get little or no assistance from the government, be it municipal, state, or federal, except for public education. According to many economists, they contribute far more to our economy than any tax-payer subsidies they receive. And if the violence of a few required that they all be rounded up, let’s apply the same rule to everyone in the country. By that standard, we’d all have to leave, including the president.
114
@Cirago
Surprising to see this as a NYT pick.
I would like to remind you that fleeing persecution in a country such as Guatemala or Honduras is not illegal immigration. You might want to look up the Wikipedia page on refugee law, for starters.
Perhaps if your life was on the line due to rampant corruption, crime, drug gangs, extortion, etc, you might try to apply for refugee status in the US. Given that that is now next to impossible, thank you very much Mr "President" and his advisers at Faux news, you might even try to sneak across the border. Then you would be an illegal alien, but not exactly by choice, and not quite the scenario trump will probably espouse tonight: the immigration equivalent of Reefer Madness, with drug gangs and rapists streaming in to plunder the land of milk and honey. National emergency, my eye.
What sickens me is the total lack of compassion of many conservatives and virtually all trump supporters regarding the plight of others: their "if it has an adverse effect on my wallet, I'm against it" attitude. That, all the while applauding his feed-the-rich tax cuts, not to mention embracing virtually unbridled gun ownership. 30,000 gun deaths per year is far more of a national emergency than a bunch of desparate people trying to get into the US to improve their lives (and taking in many cases jobs Americans don't want to do).
116
this is trump's business strategy being infused into federal governing.
he puts his name (brand) on things that he (1) does not build himself and (2) does not pay for himself.
u.s. taxpayers wake up!
3
Language matters. We have a propensity to employ euphemisms to shield ourselves from moral and legal culpability. The so-called 'Family Separation Policy' are words that have sought out those types of protections.
By seizing children from their parents, The Trump Administration has mobilized Extrajudicial Political Kidnapping as the centerpiece of an illegal and immoral deterrence strategy. As far as we know, two of these children have died while in US custody which in my view rises to the level of negligent homicide. 'Family Separation' does not do justice to the policy that is being executed in our name as American Citizens.
I call on the Justice Department and the US Congress to hold to account Homeland Security Secretary Neilsen, Former AG Jeff Sessions, President Trump and Vice President Pence for hatching this policy.
3
There's nothing "borderline" about Caligula Trump's sanity.
4
Trump doesn't care about anything other than the optics as viewed by his supporters. He loves the adoration of the crowd, and as long as he can imagine that it is the largest crowd ever, he will do anything to keep their attention. Do not expect anything remotely related to logic
8
A bit of science here: From a galactic perspective, the development of human life on Earth (as we think we understand it) has been a series of staggering improbabilities.
A thorough understanding of that fact reveals that we only survive in very fragile circumstances as quantified in the obscure math of Chaos Theory.
Here we encounter the borderline between sanity and insanity that determines our grasp and response to hazards, many of which are self inflicted. The choices are:
> Sanity, which produces a humble acceptance of reality that pursues a socially coherent, cooperative effort to secure our general welfare, or...
> Insanity, which denies reality to demand a narrowly focused gratification of pride's delusions.
The tension between those political mindsets has driven the the U.S. into a critical zone of instability expert analysts refer to as "The Edge of Chaos". The outcome is mathematically unpredictable but it increases the probability of abrupt, significant change in system behavior, for better or worse. We are advised to fasten our seat belts and brace for impact.
3
@Kirk Bready: Negative feedback seems to work to prevent chaos even in complex systems that are incompletely understood.
@Steve Bolger: I like your hopeful
observation, but results vary. Negative feedback to the Versailles Treaty gave rise to the insanity of Nazi Germany. That produced the chaos of WWII.
It took the unprecedented positive feedback of the sanity and decency of the Marshall Plan to heal and enable the recovery of stability.
But later, negative feedback from the grass roots sufficed to shock the world (and the CIA) when it took down the USSR and its abuses with a relatively peaceful revolution.
@Steve Bolger: Results are variable. The negative feedback to the Treaty of Versailles was the chaos wrought by the rise of Nazi Germany which provoked the catastrophe of WWII.
It was the unprecedented positive feedback and sanity of the Marshall Plan that healed and restored the economic and social vitality of Europe and Japan.
1
Sure, Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach. But Mitch McConnell won't bring it to the Senate floor for a vote.
4
I was in a counting frame of mind. Why is Trump so frightened of immigrants?
Neither of his grandfathers was born in this country; his father's father came here as an immigrant.
Trump's mother was an immigrant.
Two of his three wives were immigrants.
Four of his five children have immigrant mothers.
All of his children have an immigrant grandmother, Trump's own mother.
This is the man who proposed ending birthright citizenship. What about ending birthright citizen for grandchildren of immigrants?
7
@M. B. E.: The Trump family fortune was seeded by an ancestor who ran a brothel in the Klondike gold rush, and invested the profits in New York City.
all the Trump relations you mention are white, so that's different.
Trump made a campaign vow —Mexico would pay for a vast border wall. It was never a workable idea and he cannot admit that. People around him cannot admit that. Republicans in Congress cannot admit that. Now taxpayers are asked to pay for this mess. When will Trump and Republicans stop asking Americans to pay for Trump’s mistakes?
8
If Congress truly represented the people as its member purport to do, they should pass a resolution that if there is a government shut-down, they will not only forgo their salaries, but they will be fined an appropriate amount of money each day of the shutdown.
It is obscene to have a media press briefing with solemn-looking politicians at the podium getting their full salary (and perks!) while they use government workers as pawns in a heartless game of political chess.
They should all be ashamed of themselves. This is not representative government!
15
I wonder if I have this right.
Break something expensive and needed. After breaking it, declare a crisis - " this thing is broken". Demand money to fix it. Get that money from taxpayers to fix it. Shut the Government down if you have to in order to get those taxpayer funds. Get the funds. Declare a "win". Now I understand. This is the "winning" that our president talked about during his campaign, "so much winning" that we would get sick of it. Well, guess what? We are sick of it. He got that part right.
13
"...now wants hundreds of millions of dollars to address the humanitarian crisis he caused."
The question looming over this is why do the American people need to even submit themselves over such lunacy?
Whatever happened to fiscal responsibility, small government, and family values - in short, the alleged hallmarks of so-called "conservatives". What is it really they aim to "conserve"?
Only power and money, for the 1 % and corporate America, seems to me.
3
We have a ministry in our church which we share with other congregations called Heart to Heart. This ministry provides food, clothing, and guides for shelter. Just as important, a listening ear and a caring person for people experiencing bad times. I believe this is a model formula for improving our nation's immigration policy. Not to be naïve nor simplistic, but a caring heart heals the broken hearted better than a cold heart. Justice and power without love is just plain heartless tyranny. 45'administration and 45 do not see the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, rather they are labeled with epithets more fitting for White Supremacists who have proven themselves to be murderers.
6
This administration is MAGA incompetence personified.
3
Nothing "borderline" about it...out of his mind. Indict, impeach, imprison.
9
Having agreed to air this self interested WH speech, the networks of integrity should run a chyron on the screen to fact check the president.
8
Rained cruelties? Then maybe they should return home.
1
And just think: the cruelties they would encounter here pale in comparison to the threats of misery and death hanging over their heads in Central America. With CICIG being ousted in Guatemala by an authoritarian President with no qualms about dispensing with the rule of law, the prospects of Guatemalans look even more grim. Don’t assume that people who have been exploited by their home governments and our corporate and geopolitical interests are behaving irrationally when making such weighty decisions to uproot and take a chance.
3
@Jackson
Any goud reason why the wealthiest country on earth, with one of the lowest population densities in the West, should somehow end all immigration and asylum?
Do you understand what the consequences of such policies would be?
And if you really support all this, can you please give one good reason why instead of modifying our law system so that immigration and asylum become illegal, we instead torture potential immigrants and asylum seekers to such an extent that they no longer even apply ... ?
Just ONE good reason that supports these practices ... ?
So you want for us to watch you on the telly tomorrow regarding your plans for the border.
I know you don't read much but I'm sure in your childhood sometime you became familiar with the Aesop fable - the Boy who cried Wolf.
5
Most illegal immigrants come here and overstay their visa. Why would they come across a desert of death on the Southern border when they can fly on an air conditioned aircraft.
6
Not borderline.
1
Stop trying to make sense of what Trump does....you can't comprehend irrational behavior and more importantly do not underestimate Putin's control of Trump....when you see it through that perspective then it all makes a lot of sense...Trump is Putin's kompromised asset, Putin provides his script and talking points all trying to actively to destroy the USA and the western nations because that is Putin's aim....take it seriously because Putin has not stopped, in fact he has increased his efforts.....all the $ loss and hardship and in-fighting this causes is not accidental...be clear on this: it is on purpose and the the aim is to undermine and destroy our govt and way of life. It's that simple. Trump is not crazy but he is cornered & desperate and will do anything to keep Putin happy and to surpress the financial scandal & criminal activities he has been involved in for many years. Why do millions need to suffer because of Trump and the kompromised GOP...we know they took very dirty Russian money and a lot of it...that includes Graham, McConnel, Ryan etc etc. This must end and walking away is not justice.....the People deserve real justice this time or this will continue and millions will suffer due to the greed of these greedy power crazed people.
6
@Sandra Garratt: The US caused the break-up of the Soviet Union by arming the same religiously motivated extremists who have subsequently become the nemeses of the US. Putin wants to return the favor.
General George S. Patton stated "fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man."
11
@Ashwood8: What about war itself?
So much blather, here and everywhere.
The bottom line is that we have a criminal president with an overriding mental illness.
And no one is protecting us from the chaos that will never, ever stop with this man in charge.
Senate Republicans! Stop this madness!
Cabinet! 25th Amendment! Now!
13
Trump has been doing this his whole life. He cries 'Daddy, give me some some money so I can build something', fails at the project, & then asks for more to fix it. Now, we are the Daddy & he expects that we'll bail him out by throwing even more money at him. I say it's Time for some tough love. He made the mess, let him use the $$ that he has already bilked the gov't for to clean up his own mess. Better yet, let's get a new, more responsible Administratorto replace him!
3
I think the President is doing a fine job. Unlike every president before him, he is doing something about the illegal, social net sucking that comes from letting anyone through our porous border. I also think the elitist NYT editorial board should think seriously about housing some of these poor folks in their own Manhattan high rises. Lord know they probably hire them under the table to clean their penthouses.
1
@John S., then this administration should go after the people and companies who hire undocumented immigrants. I don't see that happening which makes me believe that the administration wants the cheap labor with the appearance that something is being done to control immigration.
3
The term "mass incarceration of migrant families" is demagogic rhetoric.
The strong partisanship of the Editorial Board undermines its credibility as a source of non-biased information and political analysis.
The claim that the NYT can be a reliable, unbiased source of facts and news reports and also promote social change and its strong political agenda is nonsense.
2
@jck: Why did you write this twice? Why did you write this twice? Also, by the way, a Trump supporter is not in a position to accuse anyone else of engaging in demagogic rhetoric or of having its credibility undermined or of having a strong political agenda.
Cruelty and stupidity writ large.
And why don't we build a wall along our northern border for that matter, and east and west, so folks cannot come in by ship?
Oh, that's right it's hispanics we are supposed to hate--err fear, because, well, they have the same hopes and dreams we all have.
5
I'm very disappointed with this New York Times article for blaming Trump for the humanitarian crisis. He made it very clear that the migrant caravan needed to turn back - that they weren't allowed in. But, they ignored his warnings and tried to force their way in. It's Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats who are creating this problem with their DACA agenda. Parents from Latin American countries are trying to get their kids into America because of the Democrats. But, to blame Trump for their problems, saying he caused it, is just dishonest. The Democrats are being very irresponsible. They aren't taking seriously the risks posed to these families and to Americans by having weak immigration laws. It's so hard to take this newspaper seriously when you're being so unfair.
3
You’re aware that the numbers of people coming through those borders are small and declining I presume? Don’t get taken in by the misleading rhetoric of the President and his cronies.
So the president is going on network news tomorrow night to discuss this "national emergency". Be prepared for the border equivalent of mushroom clouds, yellow cake and weapons of mass destruction.
2
What a cruel human being ... he never ceases to amaze me in that regard.
3
As a Democrat I am not clear on your breathless clutch your pearl's editorial. What do you propose......catch and release? abolish ICE ?....as it stands the United Stated does not have control of our border or airports. Meaning we have to let in everyone who petitions for asylum. What is the NYT's Editorial boards limit? Really? 30 -50 million asylum seekers? Just pick a hard number. What are the consequences of that number?
There of course is only one sane course of action which is: 1) E-Verification for all workers in every state and 2) merit based immigration just like Canada. (both of which the Democrats can not agree to) If adopted - all of the hyperventilation would stop in one day. 3) Eventually we may have to stop the silliness of anchor babies which will only grow as a problem. The central issue which the Democrats are losing - is the question - are we a sovereign country or not? The humanitarian crisis can not be fixed here in the US. The NYT's is not looking at the realistic big picture. You are just running around whining about Trump without proposing real adult's in the room reform.
3
@David: Population is a global issue. It makes no sense to discuss national borders with people who consider family planning and long term population stability defiance of the will of God.
Sometimes it seems that people have children to beg for themselves.
#MAGA - Make America GOVERNED Again!
1
"Borderline" insanity? More like full-blown. It's past time for the 25th Amendment to be put into motion, before this demented man and his GOP sycophants run the country totally off a cliff.
So we going to get an 8 minute infomercial where he is trying to sell us a piece of the wall with the 'As Seen on TV' tag like you find in Walmart.
1
What does it take to stop this man’s insanity towards
Americans, he’s destroying this country one lie at
at a time.
He breaks his presidential oath many times as
he lies.
He promotes Russian propaganda.
He acts out without any strategy
Now he manufactures an “emergency” disproveable
by government numbers.
A blatant prelude to stealing money from another agency
and setting the stage for a Putin like power
grab.
He is repeating his illegal and immoral behavior
practiced as a New York developer.
Invoke the 25th, he’s a danger to all of us
and the world
5
“The Times found that, in the final week of December, some 600 migrants were unceremoniously released onto the streets of El Paso.”
By this, I assume you mean the El Paso Times. The New York Times and other national media were slow to report on this mess. Awareness came from Beto O’Rourke’s social media skills and from local journalists, such as those at the El Paso Times and @BobMooreNews.
Woe to the hypocrites. The left’s so-called leadership - including Schumer, Hillary, Obama and Bill - made speech after speech over their careers that routinely decried illegal immigration. Now Trump is the insane one for agreeing with them. Do you people ever listen to yourselves?
1
Today's version of Chicken Little: The Sky Is Falling by Donald Trump.
2
Note that VP Pence went on television today to support Trump's demand for Trump's border wall. Pence is complicit in Trump's policies and the damage they are causing. He should be held responsible, too.
6
Never give money to a purposeless cause. It will enrich a few while making poorer the rest, and achieve nothing.
1
This is Trump's red meat issue with his social media driven fans. The misinformation and hatred is well known. But this is also about Trump using his power as president to muscle an absolutely unnecessary boondoggle through the congress. Trump has made this his line in the sand. A true zero sum adventure that has huge repercussions for the public because of the cynically instigated shutdown.
2
I'm so weary of this subject. It has a reasonable resolution. Sit down Congress and come up with a comprehensive immigration policy that can address our real issues not the ones put before us for cynical political reasons only. Trump is dragging this on in order to keep his base with him into the next presidential election. He has no real intention of solving it. If congress can come up with a good plan and plaster it over the airwaves with detail and discussion they will be able to overcome the president who only knows how to be political. He is not a leader or a statesman.
3
@sec: They all get paid by perpetuating impasses, not by resolving them. Resolving issues destroys their shock value to raise money.
2
This is truly, alarmingly crazy: as the noose tightens and he stumbles and mumbles and drags us through another self-inflicted crisis, Trump goes deeper and deeper into incipient dictatorship. If he pulls off this phony "national emergency" gambit (with GOP assistance), there's no telling how far he'll go to save himself and his corrupt regime. It's hard to believe this is happening but I trust the Democratic response will be fast, furious and unrelenting, going all the way to the now-suspect Trump Supreme Court. The question is: who knows what they will do; their recent track record is not reassuring. Then again, hoping against hope, perhaps he's had a long-overdue epiphany and his prime time address this evening will announce his resignation. Insufferable Nixon did it and LBJ had the good sense to pull up his stakes, too. Hey, this is America: one can always dream the impossible dream -maybe.
2
Inhumane policies? When did protecting and monitoring a border become inhumane? I do not see individuals being gunned down trying to cross or landmines exploding.
5
Trump and his cabinet are no doubt incompetent. His solution to the influx of illegal emigrants is archaic and more cruel then it needs to be. While the situation of illegal immigrants in the border is poor, I would not label the situation as a humanitarian crisis. A humanitarian crisis is Yemen or Syria, not over-crowded detention centers in Texas. Also, while the death of the two children is regrettable it is not ground enough to lab the situation a humanitarian crisis.
Second, the illegal immigrants taking the journey to enter the US illegally are taking are making the trip of their own will, in turn accepting the risk that go with it. Also the political asylum argument is not very compelling, if you are afraid of gangs in El Salvador you can as easily relocate, for example, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru etc etc.
Finally, I would say maybe 25-30% of the American population is very antagonistic to illegal immigrants. While not a majority, it is still a sizable portion of the population, the laws and policies should represent the will of the taxpayers--whether we agree with that position based on moral grounds is irrelevant, their position is not unreasonable. The border wall is stupid idea, however, there still needs to be solution to the illegal immigration.The same rationale extends to left leaning policies such as environmental protection, regulation of different industries and
2
Trump is an ignorant, ruthless narcissist who is bent on getting his way no matter what. That he has come this far, with the crucial help of a feckless Republican Congress is further proof that The U.S.A. as most sane, suitably educated Americans have perceived it over our nearly 250 year political history could very well be on the brink of extinction as a viable democracy in the 21st Century. What brought this man to the threshold of The White House was a sizable portion of the electorate devoid of the basic tenets of American History, Civics and a basic knowledge of world history and politics. For far too many, ignorance is truly bliss. So we have come to this point, where this charlatan and sorry excuse for a human being is going to try to sell his Wall to 'The American People' (AKA his beloved, clueless base).
3
Though the headline is clever, it's wrong. The insanity of shutting down the government to further boost Trump's ego is not borderline.
Trump has succeeded on one level. We've moved from talking about how Mueller is going to nail him to talking about the idiocy of his wall.
3
Everything Donald Trump does turns into a disaster. And every time this ridiculous man opens his mouth, he obstruct justice or proves once again that he has flagrantly betrayed the oath of office he has taken to protect the Constitution and the people of the United States of America. At this point the very best thing he could possibly hope to do is keep his mouth shut.
If his lawyers are even slightly more intelligent than he is, they would advise him to speak as little as possible , but of course he does not listen to them. He believes that he alone can accomplish what he wants to as president.This is yet another reason why this man needs to be removed from office as soon as possible and by any legal means possible .
3
What the border needs is more civil servants, lots more, to process immigration forms and give hearing dates. Then, the applicants are let go until their hearing date. That's the law.
The reason for families being stockpiled in heatless tents at the border is because the government refuses to hire enough civil servants to process applications, and now they're limiting the number of immigration judges.
This is entirely against U.S. law. Trump and his sycophants have created a problem by not following the law.
Immigration numbers are way down. The border patrol doesn't need beefing up or high tech, perhaps with the exception of drones. A fence, if you fly over the Southern border, would be logistically impossible to build because of the sheer cliffs of the Rio Grande valley, and the hundreds of miles of mountains, not to mention taking land by eminent domain. It would cost way more than $5.6 billion, and we do not have a national security problem at the border in the first place.
We have a shortage of civil servants at the border, and an Administration that refuses to follow the law.
That Trump has been given national television airtime to present his racist case for the wall, without the opposing side presenting their case, is incredibly irresponsible. Media outlets are permitting the dispersal of racist, not fact-based propaganda, under the false pretext of national security, to be disseminated. It's criminal, and sets a dangerous precedent.
5
I don't know what Trump believes in, other than himself, but this wall obsession and the Administration's discomfort with people who don't look like him falls squarely at Stephen Miller's feet. Miller's DNA is all over the current immigration policy, Trump's refusals to hear out any immigration reform proposals, and Trump's doubling down on all things related to eliminating "brown" people from the United States. Trump himself is too stupid to manage a hot mess like this, but Miller the snake thinks this is his destiny.
1
The only national emergency we face right now is the Trump presidency. Watching events unfold over the past 6 months I have changed from believing him to be merely incompetent to believing he is now bordering on derangement. His pathological lying and paranoid descriptions of the wholly invented "border crisis" have slipped well beyond political maneuvering. While it is true that by failing to secure wall funding he will have betrayed his signature campaign promise, his justification for continuing to pursue that funding is based on a distortion of reality that he seems incapable of recognizing, and his policy of maximizing human suffering as a deterrent truly borders on criminal insanity. Children have died at the hands of this policy. Is there a more egregious example of the moral bankruptcy of this presidency?
I look forward to his address tonight with the sincere hope that he will reveal to the nation the depth of his mendacity and the shallowness of his respect for democratic principles and human compassion. A man, a leader, who would sacrifice the lives and well-being of children ---no matter their legal immigration status --- on the altar of political expediency deserves to have the spotlight shone on his madness.
4
Great comment in the Post (to Jennifer Rubin's column), responding to Trump's alleged use of "emergency" powers - how can it be a response to an emergency when it will take years to build a wall?:
"Will someone please ask one of the president's spokespersons how building a wall (the material for which has just recently been determined after months of concrete vs. steel waffling) can possibly be a response to an "emergency." The wall will require acquisition of property by eminent domain (that can take years), sourcing of materials, engineering and contracting issues, and all kinds of additional logistical problems. By the president's reasoning (if you can call it that), we'll be overrun by rapists and drug dealers by the time the first artistically designed slat is in place. This is like proposing natural selection of heat-tolerant human beings as a solution to global warming. It couldn't be more stupid."
3
So give $5 billion for humanitarian aid and tightening border security and not one dollar for the wall. It is sickening that so many government workers are paying the price for this. it is indecent, and inhumane. Trump is amoral, and does not give one whit about humanitarian relief for the atrocious conditions refugees are living in created by his administration. Those seeking asylum are indeed refugees and should be addressed as such - not illegal aliens. Words matter.
This isn't about border security at all, it is about Trump and his need for adoration and loyalty from his base and keeping a false campaign promise based on a breathtaking inanity that Mexico would pay for a wall. This is shameful, but has become the norm for this administration and this inept, dangerous president.
4
First and foremost, with Trump atop a Republican House and Senate, why is the wall not yet built? Because it's a stupid idea and complete waste of money. So let us move along and stop blaming a week old Democratic House for this crisis.
Instead Trump want's us now to believe he is concerned with the "humanitarian crisis" at our borders.
Unimaginably, Trump has brought the "humanitarian crisis" from the border right into homes of millions of Americans, many of whom likely voted for him.
No, it is not terrorists or rapists that are invading American communities in each and every state. The humanitarian crisis I refer to is that affecting Federal employees and all the sub-contracted companies and employees also adversely affected by what will soon become a month long shut-down. For those living paycheck to paycheck, losing 1/12th of your annual income creates a crisis. And naturally, the ripple affect on the communities these people spend their hard-earned wages in are also adversely affected.
When a shutdown affects tens of millions of Americans it becomes a humanitarian crisis. Heck, even a bad storm hitting a much smaller geographical target creates a humanitarian crisis. This one reaches from sea to shining sea.
Trump has done the unimaginable, with a strong stock market, strong economy, and relative peace globally, he has abdicated his oath to the Constitution and for only self-serving reasons, created and abated crisis here at home.
3
Wall or no wall: This is bogus dilemma engineered by the two dominant parties with almost identical political platforms to show some distinctiveness.; it is all pony show.
We should be taking to the the barricades over the huge military budget vs a failing infrastructure; we should be pulling our hairs about increasing social inequality; and we should be losing our sleep over the political corruption brought about by Citizens United.
2
Hate government? Try living without it.
Several years ago, Paul Krugman declared words to the effect that a society believing that all government is bad will always have bad government.
More recently, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez opined that President Donald Trump is merely the symptom of a much deeper syndrome of public dysfunction, the pus-filled pimple on the epidermis of American governance, as it were.
Both of these observers are right. If the governance-destroying evidence of the current shutdown fails to provide sufficient proof, then I don't know what does.
3
Everything about this presidency is a histrionic pose by a would-be showman
"Hail to the Chief" should be replaced by that old song "Fine and Dandy." And after each speech, the networks should display the Warner Brothers Cartoon ending, with an animated figured bleating out "That's All, Folks!"
.
1
Bravo! "The situation is an especially rich example of the Trump Doctrine: Break something, then demand credit — and in this case a lot of money — for promising to fix it."
Now on to the gov't shutdown, another example of this cruel 'Trump doctrine'.
1
Exactly! The current administration took a small problem, magnified it by its own mis-management and cruelty, and then asks for even more money to continue the mis-management and cruelty. How can they expect the American taxpayer to underwrite this stupidity.
1
And here I thought the issue was controlling the nation's borders as the Democrats have consistently said they are for ( in the past) when they re in control. Let's see if this editorial facilitates that goal: "snips" fro the editorial:
Inhumane policies
political grandstanding
managerial incompetence
break something, then demand credit
cruel immigration aganda
policy-increase their suffering as a deterrence
spiteful choice
retrograde agenda
Which of these would you think brings the other party to the table to negotiate a set of policies that addresses the existing 10-20 million people in the USA that are here illegally under the current failed system?
The American public wants those people to be able to come "out of the shadows" and be allowed to stay as long as they abide by the laws and integrate with the overall culture and ethos of the USA. They also want a set of laws which are enforced to control the flow of immigrants and refugees into the country which generally benefits us all and is humane to people seeking asylum (legitimately) and for businesses and individuals to be held accountable for evading the laws requiring them to validate employee status.
This is what Congress and the President should focus upon, not name calling and political hypocrisy as currently practiced by all!!
Trump plays this country like a virtuoso violinist. See how we are completely distracted by his wall obsession, the government shutdown and his possible declaration of a national emergency. Not to mention the what will be wall to wall coverage of his visit to the border and his "address to the nation." No one is the new congress's pending investigations of his countless wrongdoings and abuse of power. He wins again. Pretty soon there will be nothing left but Trumpism and anti-Trumpism. All about him.
1
Trump has made it impossible to negotiate with him because he is a pathological liar, He finds it impossible to accept facts that do not favor his agenda. Instead of debating what is the best approach, we debate what the word approach means - never getting to substance.
1
Trump is the classic grade school candidate who promised to put a candy machine in the lunchroom with absolutely zero ability to do so.
What a disgrace that our country has so many voters who are no smarter than to fall for that.
8
What a perfect analogy (and, unfortunately, conclusion)! Thank you. I plan to use it in my chats with folks down here in southwest Florida, true Trump country.
Granted it is not an afternoon stroll. But every time I hear of people illegally crossing the border on foot I think of the teenage girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria. I believe there is a good chance that those girls (after facing attrocities at the hands of Boko Haram) who were returned to their homes might jump at the chance to come to the United States. Are they less deserving than those who can walk to the United States? Forget about the wall and work on a fair system to allow asylum seekers into the country.
I am truly disappointed with the way the Democrats have handled this publicly. The only statements that have been broadcast is that there is no way the Dems will approve ANY wall funding. This plays right into Donalds base.
They should be reminding everyone that he had 2 years of complete control and could not get his wall approved. There was a bi-partison agreeement on border security last month that Donald rejected.
On another note, can anyone tell me how a wall prevents tunneling?
I feel like I'm living in the Ukraine. If Trump gets most of what he wants, and proceeds as he has so far. ie. following Putin's wishes to the letter, we'll be a Russian satellite. It is definitely a shepherd/sheep relationship.
2
Eric,
You remind me of the old joke about the man who would hit himself over the head with a board. It felt so good when he stopped!
To continue to support Trump as he "might" be bringing attention to severe problems of this nation through his incompetence, is misguided, to say the least.
He must be removed as soon as possible. But alas, that leaves Pence in charge.
Our beloved Constitution is no longer functional. Step one: the Vice-President Nominee can no longer be a a pawn, selected by the Presidential Nominee for political reasons!!!!!!! He/She must campaign and be selected and elected by the Party of choice.
JFK Crisis = Cuban Missile Crisis. Bush 41 Crisis = Iraq invades treat ally Kuwait. Bush 43 Crisis = Sept 11th. Obama Crisis = Financial Meltdown. Eisenhower Crisis = WW2 in Europe. Truman Crisis = Japan, Germany, WW2. Woodrow Wilson Crisis = WW1. Lincoln Crisis = Civil War. FDR Crisis = Great Depression and WW2. Trump Crisis = Nefarious indictable past and backing himself into a corner with 30 percent of Americans who completely dislike 40 percent of Americans. At least one Americans can visually see the crisis during Trump's speech. Trump. Not the wall. Robert 'Beto' O'Rourke should do a live, real time remote from the borderline during the speech, maybe we can see a rabbit in the remote darkness if the Marfa lights are shining bright. Thus guy wants 4.5 billion for beds in border detainment centers? 4.5 billion for BEDS in DETAINMENT centers? Imagine a CEO calling a shareholder meeting over yeah-neah building a fence. First President in history to have to speak in prime time to the American people over one expense item in the budget. This is a meltdown. Bottom line. We need a change at the top.
trump's antic appeals to chaos seem to be getting worse and more frequent. there's always been the question, is he crazy like a fox, or just plain crazy? he probably has a very good idea of what's in the mueller report. if so, now would be the time to throw a whole of sand in the nation's eyes.
The situation at the border and families trying to pay their bills without being paid because of the Government shutdown which Trump said, "He proudly owns" is yet another example of how very unfit he is to be President. Trump saying that, "He can relate to the pain of the people affected by the shutdown and they will adjust" is just further proof of his Sociopath illnes because like all of them he is unable to feel any empathy for anyone except himself. Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Fox News are running the country which is beyond a scary thought. We can only hope that Robert Mueller tells Trump that he will either indict his family or he has to resign immediately. I pray that the national nightmare of the Trump era will end today. Lies he has told about 4,000 terrorists coming through the border, all of the former Presidents told him secretly that they support the wall and that the border situation is a "humnitarian crisis" is the biggest untruth of all and if it is Trump deserves 100% of the blame.
President Trump is vastly unfit for the office. The Republicans in Congress who aid and abet him now are cowards and traitors. The matter cannot be more plainly stated.
1
It is amazing and ominous how the fabrications from the right permeate this discourse. Trumpsters and a fair number of liberals alike buy the spurious "economic analysis" from the Not-so-Breitbarts and the Dredge-the-bottom-Reports of the internet.
Good people: illegals that work in the jobs you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole pay taxes, but they get almost no benefit from our social system. Also, without the good people from south of our boarder, we would have almost no fruit or vegetables to eat. Not to mention all the menial jobs that, let's face it, Americans just refuse. We need these good people, so let's fix a fair immigration policy and help the people that want to come here and do the work you do not want.
2
He is not governing, he is campaigning.
His birther boundaries should be paid for by campaign contribution and his own personal funds since this is a manufactured crisis and his rhetoric is an insanity and an insult to every soldier who fought during WWII against another "supremacist" who also referred to people he was bigoted against as "infecting" the country.
My father fought during WWII with the 101st Airborne, Yankee Infantry Division. Trump and the GOP senators who are endorsing him and not passing legislation that could over-rule this Trump tantrum with a 2/3rds majority vote are just spitting on my father's grave.
They are a disgrace to OUR nation.
Not one more penny for his campaign.
2
Pence’s assertion that Trump wants “to protect” anything beyond himself is utterly laughable.
1
Donald Trump is a sadist. He should be indicted for crimes against humanity. His assets should be seized and used to pay for the victims of his crimes.
I am so disgusted with the never ending saga of this man’s malign effects on our society and especially upon those who wish to join it.
16
If Trump doesn't back off and pay the US Coast Guard, Customs, Border Patrol, FBI, and TSA people, all of whom are experts armed to the teeth, he's not gonna have to care much about a future budget. There. I said it. It's true. You got a problem with that? The arrested development adolescent President is monumentally stupid; don't throw sticks and bricks at the tiger, no one will care much at all about what happens when the big kitty gets ahold and they only might call 911 for you, only just maybe.
Keep your eye on the ball...
This has been a major Trump-led distraction from the Mueller probe, about which we've barely heard a peep in the past couple of weeks.
1
This is like the guy who killed his parents and then asked the judge for mercy because he was an orphan. Trump caused this humanitarian mess. Want to undo the mess? Undo the anti-humanitarian policies and practices that precipitated it. Has this guy been surrounded by stupid people all his life?
Trump’s incompetence, stupidity, intransigence and cruelty can be summed up in one word: wall.
It’s the symbol of his failed presidency: wall
Never before has a US president caused so much harm in so little time: wall
We have reached a state of emergency: wall
The first step to solve the crisis: remove Donald J. Trump from office: wall
1
Trump forgot himself for a moment when reaching agreement on funding the government. Ann Coulter shook him out of his lethargic anticipation of two weeks for golf at Mar-a-Lago. Once he was called gutless by her, his adrenal glands spurted into his spleen and gave us this fight.
Yet Trump is getting what he wants out of the shutdown—front and center notice on TV news, lots of twittering, and breathless anticipation by the media for his next move. The last thing he wants is a lasting resolution to the problems at the border, including building a wall. His customary resolution is for someone else to write the check to clean up the mess he created. He does not care about the mess itself or what it costs, only how it makes him look.
There is no resolution, short of removal, for his antics. He cares nothing about the hurt he creates for federal employees and contractors. If he’s in a fight on the news, he has what passes for happiness for him.
Congress will need to pass a CR with veto-proof majorities, so we can get to the next act in his circus. For there will be another and another and another.
I can't believe the networks, our free press, are going to let this pathological lier get on national TV and spew his garbage unchecked. At a minimum there should be a 30 minute delay where the press has a chance to interject fact and separate fact from fiction. This man may be our president but that doesn't mean we have to allow him platform for unchecked propaganda. This is how dictators shift the masses. They are the only, and loudest voice in the room. A room where neither fact nor the benevolence exists. I'll say it again, Mr. Trump is the most dangerous man in the world and the free press needs to treat him as such.
3
@FOCOJack
Another short article notes that Trump has invited "cable and broadcast TV representatives to "lunch" today. One wonders if any are so pathetic as to attend.
1
I would like NYT to report on the effects of the shutdown in South Carolina and Kentucky. Lindsay Graham says this is the perfect opportunity to 'break" the Dems and Mitch McConnell says the shutdown is not a GOP problem to solve. Thankfully these spineless partisans are not my Senators but maybe Soutch Carolina and Kentucky are flourishing without their Federal "handouts" . "regulations" and "entitlements.
Mr.Trump obviously has an “Ediface Complex”! He wants to build a wall on the southern border which will be known as the Trump Wall.He does not want to solve immigration and dismisses suggestions by border patrol that there are more modern techniques which would be more effective.During his campaign th Wall got big applause- he now wants to add it to the Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, the Trump Hotel in Washington D.C. and other Trump branded properties.He is not paying for this wall and neither is Mexico- the American taxpayers are And they do not want a Wall !
1
Trump's great friend Netanyahu has been scoring points
with his base for years by being "tough on terror" with his wall.
How long before Trump orders the troops to open fire on the
" terrorists and criminals".
A bankrupt businessman, Trump is hellbent on driving this country to bankruptcy.
1
What strikes me is just how far Trump has managed to pull America away form who we think that we are.
Instead of wasting money on a ridiculous barrier, shouldn't we be beefing up the immigration staff to process these poor people who are desperately trying find asylum, safety and an opportunity?
Trump is just another in a long line of simpletons who are masters of exploiting our worst instincts.
Shame on us if we do not stop this cretin from making criminals of people who are looking only for survival.
1
There is no imaginary problem that borrowing $5B from China can't solve.
I say that the people that want the wall should get a comfortable pair of work boots, a tool belt and head south. But, before you go.....
Understand, you WILL be paid with Peso's. That is the perfect solution. The wall gets built, the poor and downtrodden have a few new worries, the Trump worshippers make him look good (as good as possible) and the unemployment rate goes even lower. That seems like a win-win-win-win.
Gov. can't afford Americans to escape poverty, but it wants a wall to prevent others from escaping abuse and proverty?
When will people finally realize that Trump is behaving as predicted. Like a spoilt child lying on the floor banging his heels and screaming because he cannot get the present he wants.
All petty bullies fold when definitively challenged by a stronger person mentally.
So far there is not a news paper, media outlet, or politician who is prepared to stand up and say NO.
Every person is behaving on the premise that there is a degree of rationality in this child man. His is amoral. This is a concept that most people have difficulty in grasping. I had the unfortunate situation of working with 2 such people.
You cannot use reason with them. You cannot ask them to do the right thing. You cannot ask them to consider other people before themselves. Even when you accumulate over whelming evidence that they are wrong, they deny it . They continue to act as though nothing bad ever happened. As well as being consummate liars they are most persuasive in convincing other people to believe in them.
To para phrase Henry 11 " will no one rid us of this troublesome knave". There is no hope for moral recovery in this country until someone can stop the mental depravity of the WH.
In the end, if you can't make government work where you are, you will be forced to migrate yourself. The US needs to maintain and expand the bilateral exchanges that, at their best, have led to the improved competence of third word governments Nick Kristoff cited in his recent review of the state of mankind.
It is easy to have a naive viewpoint from Canada. We can be smug about illegal immigration. We are bordered on three sides by cold oceans and on the other by the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and the US. It is very hard to physically get into Canada. Still, I think it is important to have secure borders. The rhetoric on both sides in the US is amazingly banal. Just get on with it. Give Trump his stupid wall. $6 billion is a drop in the bucket. Its not worth the fight. Get on with real immigration reform. Help find ways to process asylum seekers quickly and humanely. Find ways to help stop the suffering of Central Americans so they can stay peacefully at home. Get on with something. This is just plain stupid!
As long as we have this president lies will become facts. It's the way he operates.
Surely the time is long past to realize that a very sick person is sitting in the WH. Forget his incompetence, his lack of morality and decency, his endless lies and misstatements...the man is sick. He's not, as some might say unhinged, he mentally ill. There is a way to deal with this and it's not through impeachment...we have the 25th Amendment.
Hey here is an idea - Trump can put Mar a Lago and Trump Tower up for sale and use the proceeds for his silly little wall.
This guy is from another planet. He's not all there or
here. Now he wants Americans to go hungry to get
get his wall. Not amused.
4
Nobody could have predicted what a disaster the Presidency of Donald Trump has become. From the onset of his campaign, Trump had made it clear that he would be the President of his base. While he has appealed to the bigotry, xenophobia, and Antisemitism of his core supporters, his solution to this country’s lack of a coherent immigration policy has been to incarcerate young children, deport their parents, and insist on funding for a border wall which is stupid, at best, and a veiled attempt to ensure the racial purity of a White America, at its worst. Trump, who started his term as a sick joke, is now no laughing matter. He is an ignorant, incompetent, racist autocrat who has remained in office far longer he should have. This national disgrace needs to end soon, or it may take decades for decency and civility to return to American discourse.
The United States of America does not deal with hostage takers, not even Individual 1.
As for declaring a national security emergency, which flies in the face of all known facts, that would precipitate a legal and Constitutional crisis that will force Senate Republicans to make a choice: appease an imbecile or stand for your country.
Did I really see a piece elsewhere in today’s paper that prayers were offered over this mess? It’s why I stopped reading so much of the news. I refuse to engage, even mentally, with unrelenting stupidity like this.
The sheep that got fleeced by Trump are to either embarrassed or too dumb to admit they got played.
donald trump is our national disaster and national emergency.
Trump destroys everything he touches. We have been well aware of that for years- and still he was elected. It continues to baffle me. This man is incompetent, chaotic, and downright dangerous. But still no one wants to talk about impeachment or better still - jail. He continues with his white guy privilege and America goes down the toilet.
1
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, knows he’s a liar.
Trump has "...rained cruelties on immigrants and asylum seekers".
"....a humanitarian crisis he caused"
All because illegal immigrants are now being temporarily detained -- and then still released free into our country.
"..without preparation or planning, hundreds of migrants are simply dropped off at bus stations". But, isn't that exactly what an illegal immigrant wants?
Trump didn't create illegal immigration. He inherited the problem. The NY Times offers no solutions -- rather, the reform it seems to desire will just increase the incentives for anyone to cross our border.
Perhaps the NY Times should make clear its desire; "Open Border". It is as simple as that.
Trump wants the American taxpayers to be his "Fred Trump" and bail out the mess.
This man lies every day. He is inept, corrupt and unfit for this office. We all know this. Now he is also dangerous. Dangerous to this nation, to the world and to the office of the Presidency which he did not win legitimately. The sycophants and enablers from the Republican party who put him in office are complicit and silent over the misdeeds of this miscreant. When are the people of the USA say they have had enough of this dangerous game? Most of us are very tired, afraid and feel like our hands are tied because we have no recourse against this man who is destroying our country. Voting is not enough. We need Congress to remove this man from office now. I hope many Americans will boycott this idiotic presidential address this evening. The man needs to be shunned. Please turn off your TV!
Since Stephen Miller seems to be the force behind this insanity over borders and Hispanic immigrants, it would be enlightening to delve into the root of his hatred of Hispanics and/or immigrants. He is from Southern California. Was he bullied/mocked/rejected by some in school? And because a few exhibited nasty adolescent behavior years ago, children today are locked in cages?
A border wall is a Wile E. Coyote solution to illegal immigration. Next thing you know Trump will want to use anvils, old school dynamite, springs to jump high, wing suits to fly. The absurd, backward, offensive and stupid logic of a "big beautiful wall", and how THAT idea has hijacked our government by this one guy -- WWE's Donald Trump, CEO of Trump U -- is enough to drive me up my own big beautiful wall. No adults in government? Everyone is watching cartoons?
386
@PE The origin of The Wall is even more fantastic. Former campaign staff blab that, to keep the undisciplined candidate on the message of immigration, they reminded him "The Wall." It was a memory aid, like an old-fashioned string tied around a finger or a sticky note. The sticky note has turned into a 30 foot-high concrete wall or, noticing the rising steel prices, our undisciplined candidate suggests a fence of steel slats. As if that would make it more rational or palatable.
29
Or, being one.
6
@PE If you're going to take border control this seriously, you can get back to work. Those burgers aren't going to flip themselves.
Seriously, the Border Patrol agents apprehended 6 known terrorists in the past 2 years trying to cross th border. Maybe those are just cousins trying to join the #Resistance in Seattle, but most Americans would prefer that terrorist's stay out of the U.S. instead of being able to just walk across the porous borders.
Of course, this goes to your argument for the legalization of drugs since only 5% of that which comes across the border is even stopped.
Take that same percentage to the terrorists who were caught vs. those who slipped by, and you now have 120 terrorists living in the United States waiting for the next AntiFa rally to cause real trouble.
No Border.
No Peace.
Known Border.
Known Peace.
So typical of Trump...break something, then try to ride in on a white horse to save the day..except he keeps riding in backwards. Incompetence doesn't even begin to describe the current administration
6
Well said.
2
I am no Trump fan but your first line needs to say “illegal” immigrants and asylum seekers.....
1
@Smita The asylum seekers are not "illegal". Prospective immigrants are not necessarily illegal. Why do you pivot on a word?
1
I stop reading any post starting with such a disclaimer. They’re always from Big Trump Fans.
The real "state of emergency" is this administration. He will be on prime time tonight reading from his prepared statements pretending that we are in danger and he, as big daddy, can save us from the brown women and children from the south. This is just another day in the tiresome story of trump and his cronies.
1
I was shocked to read that Trump’s $5B wall covers only 234 miles. The border is nearly 2000 miles. Is Trump going to tell the nation that our security hinges on a wall covering a small fraction of the border?
5
It's worth remembering that Mar-a-lago runs on illegal immigrants. Literally.
10
the illegal immigrants/migrants rather, can return to their own countries if they want to, no one will stop them--I guarantee it
The world including late Stephen Hawking was worried about Artificial Intelligence. Why worry when you have natural stupidity of POTUS is in full play! He wants to spend billions of dollars in building a wall when he can not and will not do anything about the homeless in the large cities of US of A. He can not and will not do anything to stop the drug abuse among his citizens. He can not and will not do anything to stop the dropouts among the highschool graduates nor anything about re-skilling his obsolete workforce. His only weapon is massive repetitive and compulsive lying. His management is mushroom management of his unthinking followers, keep them in dark and feed garbage to them. You call this borderline insanity; I'd call it full blown lunacy.
4
Trump wants 5.6 billion dollars to build a wall to protect him from Ann Coulter. If he is willing to pay a big price to get that protection, I wouldn't mind appropriating the money. After all, he wasn't able to spend the 1.3 billion dollars that were allocated by the last Congress.
Let's offer to give him that money if he is willing to close a few big tax loopholes that his donors use. As long as the 1% is willing to pay for Trump's wall against Coulter, give him the money and let him figure out how he will spend it.
2
There wasn't a national emergency at the southern border until Trump created one, and the government doesn't have to be shut down. I agree with Nancy Pelosi--open the government and continue to negotiate a sensible and effective border policy. The American people are being held hostage by this administration.
1
private contractors house the detainees. Trump's buddies profit $$$
6
Trump's shutdown hits close to home — 10.8 miles to be exact. Fort Davis National Historic Site stands empty.
And here, in Far West Texas, with its rugged terrain and obvious presence of Border Patrol, a wall would be overkill.
Besides, we like our neighbors. We get along just fine. And we need each other. Don't mess with a good thing.
4
Fake national emergency = real martial law
5
$4613 per ft.?
3
This is further proof that it is impossible to negotiate a lie.
2
Concrete or steel on the southern border? Tough one. What isn't debatable is that the walls of the oval office should be padded.
2
What a load of baloney. Trump is doing what the majority of Americans want: the end of illegal immigration. The Wall is just one component.
3
Trump will rain lies down upon the nation tonight.
Will media fact check the Liar in Chief?
Will media give Democrats equal time to tell the nation the truth?
Can America tell the difference between Trump's lies and truth?
2
Immediate systemic changes did to be done that this level of incompetence, ignorance, and grifting can never serve or even run for office again.
1) The Electoral College.
2) New constitutional requirements to be a presidential candidate.
3) Mandatory release of 10 years of tax returns.
4) At least a 5 to 2 year look back of financial holdings and dealings and divestment of any and all financial holdings that may have a whiff of a conflict of interest.
5) At least a 4 year history of public service and holding an elected office.
6) Preferably a law degree, or political science degree which would provide a candidate with an understanding of the separation of powers, and how each level of government works.
7) Basic competency and character requirements, which should include, but not limited to repeatedly filing of bankruptcies, repeated litigation, repeated involvement in fraudulent behavior, repeated acts of adultery, repeated lying, a repeated demonstration of an absence of basic knowledge, and making repeatedly untoward remarks.
8) A demonstrated understanding of the constitution.
9) Responsibility and severe sanctions, if not outright removal for the hiring of corrupt and incompetent staff remembers.
10) Sanctions on Congress and the House for not acting on these and any other apparent violations on the executive branch.
13) Any dealings with a foreign adversary in the last 5 to 10 years, must be revealed or an automatic impeachment and removal process.
2
Kennedy gave us a moonshot. Reagan gave us “Morning in America. We got a Wall. #BACKWARDTOTHEFUTURE
Impeachment is the answer.
Yes there really is a state of emergency; that is to dismiss
Donald J. Trump from office on the grounds of mental unfitness;
Amendment 25: Section 4.
And this is the only way to get rid of this psychologically unfit
man who is incapable of being President;
Please re print the Letter to the Editors dated 2/13/17 from
Harvard Professor of Psychiatry Lance M. Dodes MD and signed
by 33 members of The American Psychiatric Association..
and then accuse the GOP leader Mitch McConnell of holding our
nation hostage...it is McConnell who is actually unfit to be leader
of the GOP...so please get cracking Editors and re print this letter.
4
2 children died while in immigration custody. According to the Daily Beast and this newspaper, their fathers had brought them for economic opportunity, not to escape violence.
The Daily Beast article "Father of Dead Guatemalan Boy Crossed the Border to Flee Poverty” said, "In Guatemala, the family reportedly lived in extreme poverty, with Gomez making only about $6 a day to support his six children in a house without floors."
A 12/18/18 NYT report titled "In Home Village of Girl Who Died in U.S. Custody, Poverty Drives Migration “ said, "Ms. Maquin [the girl’s mother] has a simple explanation for why her husband joined a growing number of villagers and made the dangerous journey north: the absolute lack of alternatives in this lush but remote part of the country. Indigenous communities like theirs have endured centuries of poverty, exclusion and repression by economic and political elites." "On paper, Guatemala is not poor; the World Bank classifies it as an upper-middle income country. But those statistics mask profound inequalities, the legacy of centuries of racism and economic control by powerful groups that even now resist attempts to soften the sharp edges of the country’s systemic discrimination.” The article also said that indigenous groups make up at least 40% of the population.
These migrants were not fleeing violence, and so do not qualify for asylum. We could try to help them in their own country.
2
We have this thing called, wossname, a “refugee process,” to make just that decision! Isn’t that just AMAZING?
By the way, Republicans have been systematically attacking any and all attempts to “Help them in their own country.”
When they weren’t secretly and illegally organizing death squads, of course.
@Robert
On 12/19/18, the Boston Globe had an article titled "US pledges $10.6 billion in aid for Central America, southern Mexico" which said the following:
The United States pledged $5.8 billion in aid and investment Tuesday for strengthening government and economic development in Central America, and another $4.8 billion in development aid for southern Mexico.
The aid aims to promote better security conditions and job opportunities as part of a regional plan to allow Central Americans and Mexicans to remain in their countries and not have to emigrate.
The plan was announced in a joint US-Mexican statement released by the State Department and read aloud by Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard in the Mexican capital.
Considering the incredibly partisan direction that politics has been moving, I'm afraid that this shutdown will help set a dangerous precedent. Can we expect shutting down the government to become a tool taken out of the toolbox every time the executive branch doesn't get their way on some highly partisan issue? We have already seen the role that gerrymandering has played. The non-vote on Merrick Garland is another example of a non-traditional, and frankly, non-democratic practice that is beginning to become par for the course. Now, it seems that we can add shutdowns to the growing list. The American citizen is the ultimate casualty here.
2
@Mickey: There is only one political party in the US that considers reliable delivery of public services dispensable.
@Steve Bolger
So far.
The idea that Trump will declare a national emergency, over what amounts to nothing, cost taxpayers billions of dollars, waste military manpower, and a personal, systematic attack on refugees fleeing persecution makes me wonder if this is the United States of America.
My ancestors came in, at the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some served in WWI, while they were still waiting for citizenship. They worked the factories of New York and the coal mines of Pennsylvania. They were proud to become citizens. They all came through New York Harbor, saw "Liberty Enlightening the World" as they disembarked on Ellis Island.
They came to America to have a better life, and to get away from the ills of Europe (wars, famine, persecution). They saved their money for steerage passage, and sacrifices everything to see a nation who they were told were paved with gold.
My father served in WWII, and continued build America.
This words etched in their hearts:
.Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
We now are a America that has become selfish and self absorbed. It seems appropriate we have a president, and his party/base, with these qualities. Even going as far as using extortion and gestapo tactics on refugees.
What happened to my grandparent's America? My parent's America? My America?
4
@Nick Metrowsky: The US has become a victim of its own propaganda.
Someone needs to check my work, I’m no math whiz, but according to the details in this story we’re talking about spending $24 million PER MILE of requested wall.
I remember back in 60’s when the interstate highway system came to my area of Central Ohio and we marveled at the reported cost of one million dollars per mile.
@Steven B: It is necessary to build a road to build and service the wall.
There is no border "emergency." The need for a border wall, and the issue of addressing concerns about immigration are at best arguably related, but not the same.
Those who oppose immigration in broad terms have a very short collective memory. We are a great country BECAUSE of immigrants. Except for Native Americans, we are a nation of immigrants looking for a better life, all the way back to Plymouth Rock before we were a formal nation. Mr. Trump's grandfather came to the U.S. from what is now Germany at the age of 16 to seek a better life. Mr. Trump's mother immigrated from Scotland.
America IS great because of its past, including immigration. Breaking down what made us great makes no sense. American to this day relies upon immigrants who have skills Americans do not have in sufficient numbers (for example high tech and related skills). We create jobs that we can not fill with current U.S. citizens. In many ways a result of our outdated educational system as well as complacency in a changing and changed world.
At the lower end of the spectrum, Americans could but often do not take jobs considered menial while, nonsensically, we bemoan the fact that they are taking jobs from Americans (that Americans don't want).
Isolation from the rest of the world, under the guise of protecting America, is a contradiction in terms. Like it or not, we are in an interdependent world which we in large part created. An abrupt 180 makes no sense.
Keep America Great ["KAG"]
2
Tell him he can have his $800 million for humanitarian aid when he opens the government. $0 for the wall.
2
Even though the lawmakers recognize that the problems at the border do call for more immigration and Border Patrol agents, more detention beds, medical support for asylum seekers and so on. Even Democrats would gladly work with their Republican colleagues to pass a bill to allocate funds to meet those needs. But Mr. Trump has made it impossible for them by insisting that the funds allocated also include $5.7 billion for the border wall. If only he had not inserted the demand for his fantasy wall in the bill, he would have spared the country this embarrassing shutdown and 800,000-odd federal employees the agony they are going through now.
The administration’s move “to soften some of the blow” of the shutdown by directing the I.R.S. to issue tax refunds to people is welcome. But can it in good conscience call back the furloughed I.R.S. workers to process those refunds?
All this lends credibility the suspicion you have raised that Mr. Trump is trying to sell his “cruel immigration agenda with a veneer of humanitarian measures.” His new-found empathy for asylum seekers “should be viewed with skepticism.”
And nobody should be cowed by his threat to invoke emergency powers to build his proposed wall either. If at all there is an emergency in the country, that is caused by him. Is it possible that he caused it because he thought that is the only way he can get funding for the wall? If so, he is betraying ignorance of how funds are allocated for various federal programs.
1
“After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach.”
Trump and chaos as the norm. This has been going on for two years now without letup or redress. The list of charges of rank incompetence just keeps piling up. The run up to the 2020 election will just super charge the whole horrendous affair.
That the Dems will save the day is dubious at best. The GOP controlled Senate with McConnell in charge has become Trump’s willing gate keeper and abettor.
Absent some credible way to stem the tide of those seeking asylum from the desperate conditions in Central America and beyond the Southern US border will continue to be assailed by both the genuine victims of the crime and political chaos that is endemic there as well as many who’s primary motivation is economic opportunity.
The current dysfunction on the border certainly encourages more of the same.
2
Trump and advisors want a hard border. That's not a wall. It's the implementation of a police state where travellers to and from the border, including Americans, will have to present papers and their reason for travel. It will slow down trade and commerce and vacation and shopping outings. it may deter migrant crossing, but could create more legal entry points for asylum applicants. A hard border iis managed by police and military personnel like Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. Are Americans crossing our southern borders prepared to drive their families through police barricades and check points.
6
@Maureen: Brexit appears likely to cause Ulster to unite with the Republic of Ireland to avoid bisecting the Emerald Isle with such a border.
"After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach."
WHAT? The burden is on the party that controls only one half of one branch of government? That's rich...
6
What seems to me really non-logical is that TSA, the agency that protects us, is acting without pay. So in a REAL crisis, we'd want to be sure to fund that part of the government. Right? Not.
5
The approximate $5.6 billion demanded by President Trump is just one installment of several required to construct Trump’s southern border wall at taxpayer expense.
I agree, a humanitarian crisis exists at points of entry along the southern border because it was created by inhumane immigration policies of the Trump Administration and attempts to skirt US asylum laws where refugees and their families are conflated as “illegals” by a purposely malicious administration. Obvious consequences of such policies were ignored. This particular crisis cannot be solved by funding a border wall.
Today, rhetorical escalation has come to include national security. Instead of murderous Mexicans and “illegals”, now thousands of terrorists and “potential” terrorists are “pouring” into our country through the southern border. Only after the fact, administration officials acknowledge individuals were stopped from entering, a handful at the southern border, indicating current border and national security methods are working.
I have considered the possibility construction of a wall is not the point. The political and legal mechanizations involved, to include a government shutdown, suggest purposeful anti-democratic aims - invalidating Congress, the US Courts, and humanity itself.
4
Trump is a destroyer, the little kid who kicked your blocks and made you cry. Nothing has changed. This is a man who uses bullying as a blunt instrument to get his way at the expense of others. Trump's administration created this border mess, and now we have to pay for it; bail Trump out as others always have. And where is the GOP? For years Senator McCain and others talked about sensible bipartisan immigration policy, and recently the Dems offered Trump a way out with the DACA plan, but no, the GOP waited and hoped it would go away, enabling this corrupt and incompetent president and administration in the process. Now here we are. Let's not give Trump what he wants: "a win," so he can gloat and become even more insufferable and authoritarian. Warped logic is right---this president and his administration have been operating on warped logic from day one, and everyone suffers for it.
10
Reading other sources, future costs for the wall, land acquisition and other supporting costs, may be up to $25-75 billion, which is beside the point ... the big picture is that his conscious or unconscious being creates more and more extreme CHAOS, chaos upon chaos, endlessly, "the perfect storm", a hurricane being fed more and more energy, a destruction machine ... his personality plus the abettors and enablers inside and outside the White House ... those of us with our eyes open, that know something about mental health, and those that read the many investigative sources can see this ... as I said in previous notes, thank G-d for all the positive and constructive resistance and people rising to the occasion ...
5
@Carl: Everything Trump does assaults the environment one way or another.
1
@Steve Bolger
Sorry, I meant the "the perfect storm, a hurricane being fed energy " as a metaphohor for his CHAOS-machine ...
1
"Borderline"??!! He already has $1.3B allocated for border security that he hasn't spent; submitted no plan as to how he intends to spend it. And everyone is supposed to roll over and give him more.
He IS insane. And irresponsible, craven, brutish, depraved. What must we endure before he is removed from office?
9
@carole: They can't even keep the x-ray machines to inspect truck trailers operational much of the time.
Obviously the wall money should be best spent within the country rather on feeding the coffers of his friends who will benefit from building the wall! Walls have never stopped people from getting around them so it’s a stupid and futile idea that this will stop people from coming to the United States from Mexico.
Why is impossible for Trump to think of smart ideas to manage immigrants?
I also think it’s hilarious he has to hold photo ops and rallies to maintain his so called severely waning minuscule fan base.
2
What happens when a spoiled little brat doesn't get his way? Americans go hungry. Americans go without heat in the dead of winter. Americans can't buy their insulin or other life-saving medicines. When spoiled brat Donnie has a tantrum, citizens' lives and livelihoods are put at risk.
Imagine if someone said to you, "Hey, come come to work. We're not going to pay you. If you don't show, you're fired. Oh, and it may be months or years before you get paid again."
No one in their right mind would take such a ridiculous "deal."
There is literally no question that Donald Trump is mentally unfit for the highest office in the country. Mental health professionals, by the hundreds, publicly questioned his sanity before he was sworn in, and dozens of times since. Some even took out a full page ad in hopes of upending his reign and protecting the country.
As for Mitch McConnell, the man in charge of the U.S. Senate? We've come to find that he's a spoiled brat, too! Trump embarrassed him by not signing the first deal they struck, unanimously, to avoid a shutdown. Now, old Mitch refuses to play ball.
Why do we need more women in Congress? To replace the spoiled brats who are endangering our country with their little boy playground tantrums.
9
@Sarah: They are old men now, and very bitter about the imminence of their own deaths.
Democrats now hold the purse strings. This fraud needs to be starved
12
Regardless of anybody's position on this idiotic wall (individual-1's monument), what does any of this have to do with shutting down several government agencies that are completely unrelated to immigration or border security (NASA, IRS, ...)? These agencies must be opened NOW.
445
@oldBassGuy
You mean that it makes sense to no longer protect America each time a commander in chief wants to get something from Congress on national security that Congress doesn't want to give him ... ?
It's a shutdown in itself that is horrible, not only for the country and the economy (Ted Cruz's shutdown cost the economy $24 billion), but most of all for the future of this democracy.
Can you imagine that the next Democratic president would want Medicare for All and a GOP Congress not, and then he just shuts down the government until the GOP passes such a bill?
And then the next GOP president does the same, until Congress accepts to abolish all taxes for the wealthiest, or abolish the EPA?
IF the Democrats would accept ANY deal BEFORE Trump opens the government here, then the constitutional independence of Congress would have de facto ended, and a dictatorship where a president simply dictates Congress which bills to write and pass , would have started.
That's the main reason why the Democrats can't accept to compromise.
You only compromise within negotiations that are held in a constitutional way.
68
@oldBassGuy
“ what does any of this have to do with shutting down several government agencies that are completely unrelated to immigration or border security “ ?
Hostage taking
47
@oldBassGuy
The Dems tried to separate funding the government from the issue of the wall. They were turned down.
23
President Reagan, and Congress passed the Immigration and Reform Act of 1986, and the government failed to follow through with enforcing it intentionally. So, 20 million people, or more later, we have immigration failure for states, businesses, one million who overstay their legal Visas'intentionally each year, and humanitarian crisises around the world caused by failed policies of authoritarian dictatorships, and millions of refugees from the failed polices of first, George W. Bush, and then Barack Obama, and now the disfunctional administration of DT. A lack of a leader like Michael Bloomberg, as someone, who insisted on competency when he ran New York is needed. The voter, needs to understand that we are at a crossroad fiscally in this country, and without comoetent leadership, all of the economic news that is good will not fix a chaotic, and debt ridden country.
5
Trump has finally found something he understands, and he's clinging to it. Trade, foreign policy, the economy, military strategy... they all require briefings, reading, insight, reasoning, and expertise. Building a wall is in his wheelhouse. And he won't have to declare bankruptcy if it comes in over budget.
9
The 2006 Secure Fence Act was supported by Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and 90 other Democrats, and it was signed by Bush.
5
And they didn't shut down the government to achieve it.
Oh? You mean by the guys you keep yelling want open borders?
Weird.
1
This editorial and the comments direct their criticism at Trump. Certainly, he’s primarily responsible for this continuing nightmare, but, he can’t help himself. He’s mentally ill.
Instead, direct ire at the real culprits: almost every Republican in Congress and, at those members of his base who continue to support him and his policies.
What could be motivating these two disparate sources of Trump support? Age old emotions and weaknesses are at the core...greed for money and/ or power, ignorance, fear, selfishness.
There is no justifiable reason to support Trump any longer. A clear thinking conservative with a conscience would have abandoned any support long ago. So, it’s not about politics or political philosophy or vision , or anything like that.
Any person who continues to support Trump is doing so because of one or all of the emotions/weaknesses I mentioned above.
18
Any border security solution that doesn't include more judges and ancillary legal and social counseling aid is essentially a joke. Process asylum claims quickly, let them in or toss them back out quickly, and you don't have humans piling up in wretched camps and cages, families separated, and hundreds periodically and unceremoniously released into the US "wild".
But Trumpers like the release, because 1) they blame the necessity on "Democrat laws", and 2) every once in a while someone dangerous will get through the lack of vetting and commit some outrage that they can point at; "See, they're murderers/rapists/human traffickers/etc."
The article states "After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach." They have. There was a 99% bipartisan approach that got punted by the unelected, unofficially designated Presidential cabinet advisors Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and their cohorts. They are floating bills to separate Homeland Security (the agency involved with border security) from the others that were shut down, kicking the HS can down the rod for another month.
Here is just one of the idiotic, dangerous modes of governing we have fallen into: let problems become intransigent, then rush responses without taking good time to debate the issues and act intelligently. That includes the GOP sneaking out huge, complex bills and giving the Democrats one or two days before voting. Insane!
4
Trump's demand for prime time is a massive abuse of power in itself. His leverage is the destructive, corrosive shutdown. If the shutdown was not creating havoc and tragedy - the actual National Emergency - perhaps "the media" would see this speech for the propaganda coup it is.
A main part of the solution is to OUTLAW GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS! A shutdown is a perversion of what government is meant to be. Allowing shutdowns to be negotiating pawns is ridiculous, not to mention humanly cruel, financially chaotic and wildly discriminatory. This nation cannot be hostage to itself. Democrats, want a powerfully righteous cause?
Outlaw full or partial shutdowns!
458
@will duff
Presidential vetoes are part of the Constitution’s system of checks and balances. When a president vetoes or threatens to veto a bill, Congress must either muster the votes necessary to override the veto or present the president a compromise bill that he or she will sign or allow to become law by taking no action.
However, the president hasn’t shut down government. Spending bills must originate in the house and pass through the Senate before reach the president’s desk. So far, the House has not passed a spending bill that meets Senate approval. Until it does, the House, not the president, is responsible for the shutdown.
8
@will duff
The House should pass this today!
7
@William Case
No that's not what is happening.
The Senate ALREADY passed an appropriations bill, the president told them he would sign it into law, and the House can pass it anytime now.
In the meanwhile, however, the president flip-flopped and now wants to attach a totally new bill to a mere appropriations bill (the one that finances the first 20% of his wall).
The winners of the last elections refuse the wall, and even more so outside of any serious comprehensive immigration reform talks.
In that case, it's very simple to keep the government open: the House passes the Senate bill, the Senate hold a final vote on it, and sends it to the President's desk.
The President has the right to veto it, but than all that the Senate has to do to keep the government open is to override it with a 2/3 vote.
THE problem today is that McConnell refuses to hold the final vote on a bill that Trump would refuse to sign.
So it's McConnell who's shutting down the government here, you see?
And that should indeed become totally illegal, as accepting that a president decides to no longer fulfill his constitutional duty of implementing existing law and start deliberately harming America, just to get his own campaign slogans signed into law, de facto abolishes Congress and installs a dictatorship. So it's completely unacceptable.
73
Mexico has the largest economy in Latin America and is the 15th largest economy in the world. Mexico has invited the Central American migrants to apply for asylum in Mexico. It said those who qualified would be given free health care, free education, free housing, and jobs. While many members of the Caravan have accepted Mexico’s offer, the majority have not. They want to get into the U.S. They are not fleeing violence; they are shopping for the country where they expect to get the most benefits.
8
If what you say is true, Mexico is offering these migrants more benefits than they would receive in this country. Many have family members already here and they are trying to join them.
1
@ann Wouldn't you do the same? If given a choice between Mexico and the USA, where would you target?
@bobbybow
Culturally, the Central Americans would fit in more easily with southern Mexicans. Most share a Mayan descent, and speak a Mayan dialect. They encourage couples to have many children. Most are subsistence farmers. They have barely been to school. The average adult in rural Mexico has only a 6th grade education. The inter-American Dialogue issued a report in 2/17 called “Educational Challenges in Honduras and Consequences for Human Capital and Development” which said that the average Honduran had only 4 years of education, and that the rate of illiteracy in Honduras was exceeded, in Central America, only by the countries of Guatemala and El Salvador. Migrants from these countries would feel more “at home” in southern Mexico than they would in the U.S.
Not sure why it's called "borderline."
3
@JHM
Border. Line.
Border. Wall.
Should Trump declare a bogus "national emergency" simply to placate his political allies, this artless and desperate ploy will only grease the skids to his impeachment.
He is a drowning man grabbing an anchor thrown overboard.
6
After the 12billion -dollar emergency short term "fix" for our farmers crushed by the trade tariff fiasco, a near economic meltdown due to retaliation threats, now this?
Americans are again required to dig into our pockets to finance trumps' paranoid hallucinations.
National emergency?
Yes, the trump presidency is a national emergency.
11
These are just some more of his many lies, albeit big ones. I have heard so many theories both pro and con on his man and have read so many comments regarding where to lay blame and responsibility. All I know, bottom line, is that Trump has shown con artists all over the world just how easy it is to con millions of American citizens and don't for a minute think that these people haven't started to take action.
4
If the networks are going to live-stream Trumps stream of lies, I hope they will do that with a live ticker tape of facts about the borders, immigration and what wall can and cannot do. It is their duty to counter lies with facts.
13
Donald Trump's actions regarding immigration, and his obsession with "a wall" can be considered as "crimes against humanity. He's being enabled by his Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, his press secretary, Sarah Sanderson and several GOP politicians, most especially Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham, who appears to have lost his sense of fairness and decency. Trump has destroyed the USA's reputation throughout the world. More importantly, his shutdown of our government is causing great harm to decent, hardworking Americans. All of this is costing us in blood and treasure. Hopefully, our legislators will develop a collective, bipartisan spine and stop this travesty. We cannot permit a dictator. We are a democracy, which presently, needs defended against the Trump administration.
3
Having already seen Trump's campaign ad mischaracterizing the position of the Democrats, I have no reason to watch or listen to his televised lies tonight.
For a man who prizes loyalty above all things, he is remarkably disloyal to the Constitutional oath he took to preserve, protect and defend our cherished rule of law.
8
No wall not today not ever. Let Trump spend the money he was already given, most of which is just sitting around. As for trying to convince us this awful idea is a great idea - why didn't the networks give the same time to Obama when he asked for it? Because they felt it was propaganda. So I won't be listening to more of Trumps lies this evening. I will be out with my daughter, wondering how my nieces family is going to feed the new baby since her paycheck is going to not be there on Friday thanks to Mr Trumps vanity and foolishness.
5
Further irony is the fact that Trump's bed is literal made by a hard-working Guatemalan woman without papers. It is too bad that that story was but a blip in the news cycle as it pretty much sums up the absurdity of the "wall."
6
There may be some urgent problems at the border - but none that can be solved by the slow process of building a wall.
What we urgently need is a larger number of people who can process and decide on asylum claims. Nothing will stop desperate people fleeing deadly violence from gangs and rouge security forces from coming to our borders seeking asylum.
Gangsters, terrorists and drug runners do not enter US by illegal crossing of the Mexican border - so a wall will not even slow them down.
360
@Ivan Yes given Trump $5 billion for more immigration lawyers and get the for profit prison system out of the border altogether. No militarization! Humanitarian responses only.
30
@"Gangsters, terrorists and drug runners do not enter US by illegal crossing of the Mexican border... :
Of course they do!
4
@Oxford96
No the risk of being caught is way too high. They have the knowledge and resources to seek alternative "low risk" paths for themselves and their goods.
10
To see photos of Jared, Kristen and the Vice President walking down the steps after a rough session of Border negotiations reminds me of just how far down this country has gone in the past two years. It is so disheartening, comical, yes, but so disheartening ......
4
In 1986 legal standing was given to appox. 3 million illegal aliens with the promise of better border security and we would never have to address this problem again. Worked so well we not have 11 million plus illegal aliens and the Democratic approach seems to be more of the same. I would like to take a different approach.
3
President Trump may not realize that he has already created a wall of xenophobia and prejudice between American people and Hispanic people. I experienced this recently when I said good morning in Spanish to a Hispanic employee in the gym where I exercise. She seemed to fearfully recoil and said “American, American.” Her reaction was direct result of Trump’s wall mania. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: Mr. Trump, tear down this wall.
1
I fully intend to be in front of my television tonight, watching old "Perry Mason" re-runs. For all the obvious reasons.
8
@Glen
I will read a book!
1
My "favorite"part in all this is all the Republicans screaming at the Democrats to compromise after they stonewalled Obama for 8 years....stunningly hypocritical
7
"Break something, then demand credit ... for promising to fix it."
Shades of Wimpy from the old "Popeye" comic books and cartoons: "I'll gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today." There's even a striking physical resemblance, as well as a gastronomic one."
5
Indeed, having to take care of the "humanitarian crises" at the Southern Border was the talking point of our oh-so-pious Pastor in Chief, Mike Pence this morning.
Donkey's in the China shop didn't create this deliberate crisis, it was the Elephants trampling on Lady Liberty:
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore".
The German weekly Der Spiegel had a cover page on
2017/02/03 of Trump beheading Lady Liberty.
My question are, why was the looming catastrophe of a Trump presidency foreseen and written about in foreign media just two weeks after his inauguration. Why was a majority of the US media not equally outspoken about this country being governed by the most incompetent and chaotic man in the history of this country?
Why did they give him a grace period of "growing" into his position and becoming "more presidential".
5
The insight at the heart of this Editorial should be broadcast every single day - until this nightmare of an administration is ended: The insight that Trump himself is, through his sadism and cruelty, manufacturing the very conditions, which he then points to as a crisis or a swamp or a .... (name his delusion), which must eradicated by him alone, using his methods alone.
It should become the Ethical Mandate of every single Reporter or Editor to name each Lie, each Fabrication, each despicable illogical “argument” used by this MalignAdministration - to further its rapacious policies.
The News should no longer be allowed to try and parse “bothsideism” or some myth of “objectivity” (when the Trump side is bereft of sense or truth or sanity).
Instead, like this Editorial, the Media has got to focus on one thing when it comes to politics: Our national security is at risk. Our Republic is at risk. Our way of life and civil society are at risk. Because the White House itself - along with it’s ‘resident and his enablers - are bent on destroying what or Founders brought to birth and many generations have tended, watered and respected. Till now.
Unless and until we get a grip on this insanity and cruelty flowing from the White House, the executive branch, and the supine, cowardly, compliant GOP legislative branch, we need a drumbeat from our Free Press. Like this Editorial. Over and over and over.
And we need the citzenry to stand up and demand it!
3
WE are in a state of emergency because the president is unfit for the office he represents.
7
Everyone, including the dupes who voted for #45 know he is ill suited for his position. That leaves the obvious solution on the table. Remove him.
6
The border wall was dog whistle politics when Trump used it in his election campaign. Now, because he doesn't know or care about the difference between fact and fiction, he feels duty bound to make it a reality and is holding the government, 800 thousand federal workers, and thousands of migrants hostage. Unfortunately, Trump's fellow GOP politicians don't have enough backbone, character or political capital to stand apart from this nonsense and demand some return to reason. They are cowards, allowing themselves also to be held hostage to an epic feat of racist hysteria, and Mitch McConnell is their sniveling ring leader.
5
What bothers me the most isn't Trump, but his followers. So many otherwise rational folk buying his lies. That he continuously spouts lies is obvious to objective observation, that his supporters believe them is beyond me. I attempt to discuss the facts with them, but they are able to distract themselves by saying the Dems were worse, it aint so bad, or I am lying. What magic elixir does Trump possess that allows him to con so many?
2
National Crises: prolific mass shootings, which Republicans and Trump and his their bases are silent about...after their offers of prayers for the victims; a growingly ignorant population severely lacking in critical thinking skills, and now a portion (Trump supporters) which don't even care about a US President lying now on average 18 times a day; a major political party taking on a "We create reality now" ethos; a dysfunctional and destructive massive gap in wealth and income distribution; Donald Trump; corrupt Republican members of Congress. People crossing over to clean Trump's toilets at Mar-a-Lago and pick our produce for us is way down on the list of crises.
3
You have to wonder why a nation that was so adamant about tearing down the Berlin Wall is now obsessing over building one for itself.
4
Why is Trump not considered a Terrorist???
Why is he not considered a Dangerous Fugitive from Justice?
Why is he not arrested as Criminally Insane?
He demands people seeking refuge be arrested. I demand HE be arrested for intending Terrorism.
6
I recently watched Mike Pence in an interview and spew out a number of bogus supposed facts, about the phony National Emergency and outright lies regarding the Democrats not wanting to negotiate to reopen the government from the Trump-Republican Government Shutdown.
I mean everyone knows Trump lies every time he opens his mouth, his surrogates lie to beat the band, and even though I pretty much disagree with Mike Pence on most issues, I never realized what an outright liar he has become for Trump.
Mike Pence has proven himself to be a shallow, disingenuous phony who lies as frequently and as much as Donald Trump.
Mike Pence may be a devout Christian, but he has forgotten one of the virtues of Christ, thou shalt not tell a lie, lying has become his major calling card, selling out any integrity he may have once enjoyed for this liar in the Oval Office.
8
@Chico
He’s also forgotten his Oath to the Constitution!
(But he must have taken one to Trump which supersedes it!)
1
It seems as though now would be a good time to remove the Statue of Liberty and the false adversting she promotes.
America has lost it's soul and compassion. A shame, really.
2
King Trump reached into his authoritarian toolbox and pulled out a government shutdown du jor. I'm sure all his evangelical ruralite supporters strangely approve of his party/nation destroying actions. When will we wake up from this TV president nightmare and realize that Trump will always do whatever makes him look strong or mean regardless of who it hurts. Even if it's his own supporters. Then again, you get the president you deserve.
4
It looks like Donald Trump never changes his M.O. when it comes to immigrants or Democrats.
First insult them, then claim to try to find a way of making a deal.
But always make them pay.
And in the meantime, hold the country hostage until you get your way.
Is this making America great again?
5
The Fake President lately has tried to fake out his countrymen: that The Wall is for 'border security' (and now 'humanitarian purposes). His ulterior motive: to have a monument made to his 'greatness'. It's ulterior now, but CNN provided a series of sound-bites in which he openly mentions that people someday will call it The Trump Wall. So, that's the bottom line: self-aggrandizement. Immoral.
1
The Democrats should come up with a better approach?
How about impeachment and removal from office?
4
They're illegal immigrants,not immigrants, and living in a high-crime neighborhood or having a mean boyfriend does not entitle a person to political asylum.
1
@Grunt....So the solution is to pile them up on the border in detention camps.? Brilliant, why didn't I think of that? Last time I checked there was a backlog of 746,000 asylum cases because there are not enough immigration judges to turn the cases around expeditiously. So lets build a wall.
Borderline?????
Evidence of Trump's mental illness is overwhelming. He is a danger to himself and others. Here in California, that's the standard for involuntary commitment to a mental institution.
5150 Mr. Trump. Impeach him. Incarcerate him.
Save him. Save yourself. Save everyone alive and those to come.
Save the planet.
4
Though Trump will likely be mostly remembered for his self-dealing criminality, his manufactured crisis governing technique will forever brand him as “The Chicken Little President”.
3
And Homeland Security has only spent about 10% of the funds it received last year. What a scam.
4
Here's the good news about Donald's broadcast tonight when Donald will advocate his racist doctrine: most of us know that whatever Donald says is a grounded in sociopathic lies; we will not be fooled but certainly sickened by his fear mongering racist advocacy, sheer voting getting tactics. The wall fundamentally represents votes for cruel Donald. We will be sickened by the extent Donald will go to in order to appeal to the paranoid white voting core who Donald is really speaking to tonight. Donald will get away with his lies with these anxious people who are fearing the invasion of their white lives from people of color who can cut their lawns but not be allowed any closer in their Christian lives. But rational people will see through Donald's sociopathic dishonest tactics and hopefully more of his core, those now without pay checks paying for his votes in 2020, will wake up to this repulsive fraud and turn away from supporting Donald in vivid recognition of how abjectly soulless Donald is-- a man who cares only for himself at all cost to anyone and everyone.
3
By DAN LAMOTHE | The Washington Post | Published: September 20, 2017 republished Stars and Stripes...
2017
"Overall, the Coast Guard has seized more than 455,000 pounds of cocaine through Sept. 11 in the fiscal year that will end Oct. 1"
That is what actual border security and drug interdiction looks like.
Oh wait......the Coast Guard is going unpaid right this very minute, and the TSA and real people doing the real work of protecting our nation.
3
Tomorrow is David Bowie’s Birthday.
“We could be heroes just for one day” and say no to the would-be dictator Trump.
3
Excellent and timely editorial, New York Times. I take issue only with the clever headline, "Borderline Insanity." Mr. Trump and his incompetent and malicious administration are well beyond the 'border' by this time and already deep into the Republic of Crazy. It's long past time for the forces of deportation to do their job and expel them.
3
This administration is the American Version of Maduro in Venezuela. Destroying for the fun of it and the rush of the moment.
3
As usual, the NY Times never misses an attempt to let Trump off easy. This is the most mealymouthed indictment I've ever read. Here's my favorite sentence:
>>Any attempt to sell Mr. Trump’s cruel immigration agenda with a veneer of humanitarian measures should be viewed with skepticism.<<
With *skepticism* ?????
4
This is painful. From his current position, the man should not be able to use the MSM to sell his dope; he's done it in the past but this is different, and dangerous.
Regardless of the beyond-reasonable arguments against the moronic "WALL" (and virtually no reason for it), to declare a "national emergency" for its construction implies an imminent threat, by definition . . . Beyond the lack of any threat whatsoever to the greater US, the construction of such is inherently time consuming.
To use a simile I heard on the news today, if a threat were really there, it'd be like moving your home while a Cat 4 hurricane was approaching. . . .
1
Just like his youth except that his daddy isn’t around to bail him out.
3
The real national emergency, the one NOT manufactured by "fake" news and Political bracing is the incompetence of Trump! To deal with this undeniable atrocity we don't need a WALL that divides us from truth and lies, facts and FOX....we need the 25th amendment inacted and the 45th president gets a free lobotomy ,via Obamacare, to prevent him from invading other countries and despoiling their democracies.
2
A crazy man at the helm of a nation?
That’s the real national emergency.
3
That's thousands of millions!
Holy Mother of God!!!
Please tell me this Times editorial is satire.
This President is going on national television Tuesday night to issue a dire warning to the American people that he urgently needs to declare a national emergency because dangerous terrorists are flooding through the border from Mexico.
So this editorial tells us that -- to guard us from that dire danger -- his own administration just dumped 600 of them onto the streets of El Paso?
You're making this stuff up, right?
It's got to be satire. Because no sane person would ever -- in a million years --be doing both at the same time
Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.
2
He does know how to grab our attention every time, doesn‘t he? The Wall, a Game of Thrones poster, caravans of criminals., state of emergency, etc.
And then we get all indignant and huffypuffy and call for impeachment or the 25th Amendment.
Promblem is: he does address core problems facing the country like immigration, loss of living wagen jobs or trade imbalances.
The US needs a complete reset of its wealth distribution, its system of governance, its healthcare and educational system.
This is a challenge for the generation.
Even if we don’t like him much, but thank you, Mr Trump. You have brought the ugly skeletons out of the closet and will be remembered for being the starting point of a long overdue discussion on America’s social contract.
Let’s hope we rise to the occasion...
85
@Eric Obama raised these issues as well, without making the circumstances worse. He proposed an immigration system overhaul, but it was prevented by Congress; he proposed tax increases for the very wealthy, but he couldn't get enough of an increase through Congress. Trump has made these issues worse.
111
@Eric - Jane F is correct - Obama requested an increase is spending for border security on the southern border, -including infrastructure (to extend the current wall) however, the Republican controlled congress refused his request - we might assume, because politically they wanted to show Obama as weak on immigration - despite the fact that in 2011, his administration deported a record 409,000 illegals. Trump has not yet attained that number. Trump is not running the country; Fox and Friends, Laura Ingram and Rush Limbaugh are.
88
@Eric ".. he does address core problems facing the country like immigration,..." Immigration is only a "problem" because the Repubs keep trying to limit it. The US needs MORE immigration - about 10X more - to keep up with employment needs, keep a younger, more ambitious population in the work force. The illegal immigration "problem" is one that can be solved simply by making it easy for people to come legally. Other than that, there is no real problem with immigration, legal or illegal. Indeed, how many young Americans will do ANY of the jobs that are done by many illegal immigrants. Answer : NONE.
38
The very first step we need to do as a citizenry is to contact McConnell's office and all of his toadies to let them know that we expect the Senate to pass the House bill to reopen the government STAT.
Second, nobody watch Trump's "made for t.v. special" when addresses his tribe. He hates low ratings. It is one of the few things he understands.
Lastly, we need to mobilize demonstrations against the shutdown. Hey, even the Secret Service and fellow services likely too demoralized to beat us when we take to the streets. They may even see that they would benefit from our collective display of (peaceful) force. Rally for the immigrants, the federal workforce, and reality against the insane man who knocked everyone away to grab the helm on our ship of state.
3
Stupidity is now the rule in the US. Nobody has the slightest interest in facts... certainly not the politicians or the media. I served for a decade in the Customs Service and was aware, like all my colleagues in Immigration, that smuggling of people or goods has almost nothing to do with walls. Ports of entry are overloaded and understaffed and this is where by far most violations occur (and drug-smelling dogs were a godsend.) We knew that aircraft, flying into US space at low altitudes, are not detected by radar or anything else. We knew that boats can come into any harbor, after dark, without notice. We knew that tunnels under the border were numerous and existed undetected. Anyone can verify these facts on the internet. You would have to be a serious enemy of facts to support the building of a wall.
4
@Frankster
Many of us have Extreme Interest in Facts!
Unfortunately not Terrorist Trump or his Idiotic supporters.
Nope.
Dems too "rained cruelties" down upon South American immigrants for decades, refusing to work in a bi-partisan fashion to address the abysmally porous border issue. There is no "one-sided" blame on this issue.
By the way, if the Dems are so pure, why haven't they jumped at the current opportunity to address the DACA "humanitarian" crisis, in exchange for a barrier?
The answer is politics. And the Dems are simply playing cynical politics with DACA and with legitimate immigrants seeking asylum.
Oh, yeah, and when was the last time a national Dem leader was quoted on the talk shows expressing empathy, anger, and frustration, with California's "sanctuary city" policy in the aftermath of the murder of deputy sheriff Singh?
You got that right; ain't gonna happen.
Build the wall. And Mr. President, don't give in on this issue.
2
Borderline insanity?
Most New Yorkers who were around in the 1970's remember "the donald". He wants to be "the don" now. That's the certifiable behavior of a spoiled, petulant child. But this guy is 72 years old. So what do we call it...personality disorder? ...or just plain old insane?
2
Does anyone remember Trump’s inauguration speech? He described a hollowed-out dystopian country that no one was familiar with.
He’s turning us into that country by destroying everything we hold dear about being Americans.
4
Totally with this.
3
"After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach."
Are you kidding me? We're WAY past this point. Don't you have a tiniest sense of urgency about the situation? I can't believe the offhand attitude in your final analysis of what is at this point a full Constitutional crisis.
131
@Deb Paley
Agree. And why is it incumbent upon the Dems to solve the problem?
11
@JL...It's incumbent upon Democrats because they are well informed, highly educated, dedicated to diversity and inclusion as well as tolerant and civil. But, most importantly, Democrats are a majority. Given all of that, obviously Republicans don't have the tools to solve problems. They just create them.
6
@Albert Edmud: The Dems are majority in the House only. They are not majority in the Senate because the senate represents the States, so that even though more people in the US vote for Dem Senate candidates, the red states with vastly smaller population elect GOP Senators. This gives the GOP lopsided representation in the Senate. It may be, with the gerrymander and voter disenfranchisement, the Senate will never be Dem again. And as long as McConnell runs the Senate, there will be no checks and balances.
5
And now we learn that the government will process tax refunds, which have somehow become a national emergency. Funding shortfalls in WIC and SNAP don't get the same level of urgency, nor does the prospect of 800,000 government workers slowly going bankrupt or losing their homes or cars.
It's easy to see why. Just look at how many big Republican donors get tax refunds.
In today's Republican party, people don't matter. Only money and power matter.
5
I love the Times and I dislike Trump as much as the next guy but he is absolutely right on not allowing illegal immigrants cross the border kids or otherwise.
I'm not a Republican either but why even have a border if you are going to allow who wants to come across the border?
I don't know why Trump has to lie the false security information. He would have much better support if he stated the real reason. Illegals put a huge burden on the on our social programs for everyone else that are citizens Not only that but our public schools and hospitals are simply overwhelmed.
I would state the same if the illegals were Norwegians.
67
I think The Con Don has you fooled, Glenn S.
All he wants to do is obstruct justice. The "wall' is a smokescreen.
69
@Glenn S. Perhaps you would like to address trump's use of undocumented workers at his properties. Also, discuss chain migration of the nude model and her family.
108
@Glenn S.
Nobody wants illegal crossings.
And no, illegals don't put a huge burden on our social programs (they aren't even eligible for most of them, remember?).
The problem with Trump's wall is that:
1. ALL studies have shown - as the Generals in his own cabinet have publicly declared - that a wall is NOT the most efficient way to protect the southern border. A recent study among border patrol agents even showed that less than 1% believe a wall will help them. What they need is exactly the kind of measures that were in the 2013 bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill (e-verify, 40,000 more border patrol agents, etc.). Obama managed to get this bill through the Senate with a 68-majority vote. And then ... the GOP House refused to allow a vote on it. They did so too during the last two years. And THAT is the only reason why for five years now nothing has been done to increase border security.
2. Now that Trump shut down the border, he made it totally impossible for the Democrats to negotiate or accept a compromise, because they cannot possibly create a precedent where a president can ask no matter what from Congress, just by starting to no longer do his job (= no longer pay TSA agents, no longer implementing existing laws).
If they would accept now, then all future president could systematically shut down the government to get each and every bill they'd want. Medicare for all, free college, no more EPA department, you name it.
That's a dictatorship, you see?
133
If Trump gets free air time to talk on national television, I hope the networks give the Democrats free air time for their rebuttal, as this is obviously a political campaign ad/stunt.
8
I will be traveling through the airport tomorrow and plan to give every TSA worker a tip... if we all did that they can manage until this Trump scheme ends. We the people...
3
@RVB unfortunately this isn't allowed and TSA workers will decline your efforts. Thank the for their service and donate to a local food bank because they're going to need that for sure...
1
The Con Don doesn't care about a "wall". He only wants to keep OUR government shut down so OUR Justice Departments can't pursue his criminal activity and to make the rest of OUR government look like it doesn't work.
It works. The Con Don, Pence and Traitor Mitch McConnell MUST be ejected from OUR U.S. government right now - before they can further destroy OUR government and The Con Don, Putin, Netanyahu and the other 0.01% Robber Baron/Radical religion Good Old Boys' cabal can start WW3.
That's the plan. This morning The Con Don is supposedly "threatening" Russia. He's not. They're all in this together. WE THE PEOPLE must be smart enough to realize it and stop them NOW.
No WW3. No global financial meltdown to serve the 0,01%. No destroying OUR democracy.
Not now. Not ever again.
5
The question that the wall partisans have to ask themselves is “when did the wall become their #1 political priority and issue?” I suspect it wasn’t on their top 10 list until their Frankenstein told them to make it so. If, several years ago, they were asked whether it was worth shutting down the government over I don’t think many, other than perhaps Ann and Rush, would have even considered it. How does it feel to be spoon fed your opinions and priorities? If there is truly a crisis then building a wall that will take years is not the answer anyway. The only crisis is of the President’s own making. It is one thing to campaign on fear but this is what happens when you try to govern by it in a real democracy ... the immune system rejects the virus.
4
It is insanity. I’m struck by the GOP’s unwillingness to save themselves and instead, have chosen to stand with Mitch McConnell and not govern. Do they not grasp the results of the 2018 election?
4
@KB
Do they not grasp the threat that Terrorist Trump will bring down our entire Republic?
1
So now Trump just dumps 600 migrants on American streets.
Why?
Because he eliminated Obama's Family Case Management Program.
Obama installed it to no longer have to incarcerate people who want to immigrate to the US and crossed the border, all while making sure that they show up in court and then effectively get deported if that's the court's final ruling.
Before that, "catch and release" methods resulted in about 60% of those people systematically showing up in court when they had to.
Thanks to Obama, that now became 99%, whereas costs per person were much lower than when you incarcerate them all.
So it's not as if Democrats don't have the solutions, they HAVE. The only problem is that today, the media are so focused on Trump that you won't find any information of what alternatives exist anymore ... . And THAT is when Trump's fake news and lies can have such a huge impact, because when people ignore what Democrats stand for, it's difficult to fight back against the GOP's lies about Democrats, whereas mentioning the GOP lies over and over again (whether you debunk them or not) means repeating them, and every marketing manager can explain to you how that's the best way to make someone believe something about a "brand".
Journalism that only denounces the negative but doesn't constantly remember the positive ends up distorting people's perception of reality too ...
6
@Ana Luisa
Yes, we citizens must demand that Journalism step up to every one of its Ethical Principles at this time of national emergency. Flowing from the very officials - who have taken oaths to the Constitution - but are undermining and terrorizing our own citizens, our very Laws and norms, and impoverished migrants seeking nothing but a better life for their children.
What a terrific lead Editorial this morning. One of the most powerful pieces I have ever read in the NYT. Kudos!
4
If the newly elected Democrat majority would show leadership instead of brinkmanship this would not continue. Schumer and Pelosi should be reminded of their own words when voting for funds for a border barrier during the previous administration and stop playing politics by trying to prevent Trump from doing what he promised when campaigning. This is what got him elected and what he owes to the electorate. Let's give it to him and move on. No amount of rhetoric will change the facts.
2
@ Vivian
1. Democrats have NEVER opposed a fence on certain parts of the southern border. They've always supported it at every place where objective studies showed that it was needed.
2. To turn the entire border into a concrete or steel wall is something totally different, and not only extremely expensive but also, according to all national security advisers, including the Generals in Trump's own cabinet, NOT the most effective way to protect the southern border. So to sell it to his base, Trump has to constantly lie to them, and about fundamental national security issues. That is why it is indeed "immoral".
3. Democrats have never been and will never be obstructionists. So yes, the GOP won the 2016 elections, which gave them the political capital to negotiate comprehensive immigration reform. That's why last spring, they agreed to vote for a compromise bill that included full funding ($26B) for Trump's wall. Guess who flip-flopped at the very last moment and refused to sign it? Trump. That's the ONLY reason why there isn't any wall today.
4. Now, the Democrats massively won the elections (biggest voter gap between both parties in the House and Senate in 30 years), and the GOP lost its political capital to impose highly controversial projects that only a minority in this country supports. So now it's definitively too late...
5. As he knows this, he shuts down the government instead. Accepting NOW, however, would mean the GOP can use this trick again and again, you see?
4
No. He promised Mexico would pay for it. It’s always been one of his bigger lies and now thousands are paying the price for something ineffective and destructive as well.
2
@Carolyn C
It was not a lie, it was a campaign statement, like Obama said he'd bring all troops out of Afghanistan within a year. Not all campaign statements are achievable. The barrier must be built in pieces, 5bn would cover less than a quarter of the total length. Trade tariffs will eventually cover the entire cost but that needs to be reallocated to the purpose. That's really what this shutdown is all about.
When will the Times call for his removal from office. He is mentally unsound and dangerous.
9
Thanks Bernie
2
Self Perpetuating Crisis Syndrome-----
3
Great play on words NYT. Border insanity. Insanity about border. Border as in on the fringe, on the edge, on the verge of insanity. Full blown insanity beyond borders. He’s like a caged animal pacing around the White House borders. Now, who’s going to lasso him?
6
Where sacrebleu are the Yellow Jackets!
It took a lot less than the blundering of a clueless administration to get the French in the streets.
4
I read a few months ago that the actual cost to build the wall that Trumps wants built is slated to cost not $5 billion, but $35 billion. So his "offer" to accept $5 billion from the Dems is a typical developer scheme to start a project on a low-ball number, not be able to finish it, and then come back to the funders -- in this case taxpayers -- and say, "Geez, we can't seem to finish this project until we get more money."
So the Dems need to stand firm. It's not a "measly" $5 billion as some Republicans are saying. It's likely to be much, much more.
And wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for this anyway?
7
@Loyle
Yes of course it is.
And now that he wants to do it in steel rather than concrete, it's even more expensive. And his 25% tariff on steel comes on top of that.
And then there's the principle itself: will we from now on allow presidents to no longer negotiate with Congress, but just get no matter what they want, and independently of what happens during the mid-term elects, by systematically shutting down the government ... ?
That's literally the end of the constitutional independence of Congress, and install a de facto dictatorship.
That's the main reason why no compromise with Trump is possible here.
2
NYT, if you want open borders, make the argument directly.
5
Please do not repeat glaring and obvious lies. Nobody in Congress or the Democratic or the media is advocating “open borders”.
2
@Jeff Guinn
Truly not the point of this border wall argument here in America.
It's not 'completely open borders' vs. 'closed borders.' Rather, it's about what will actually work to reduce illegal immigration (note: an expensive, yet still breachable wall erected in a barren desert is unlikely to do the job) and what is merely a slogan/scheme to appease a minority sector of the electorate here in America. (You'll recall that Trump did not win the popular vote.)
Dems are for border security, but not for tactics that are unlikely to work -- like Trump's silly wall idea.
1
@Loyle @Oliver
Nonsense.
This op ed, banal, provincial and a dumpster of unexamined preconceptions offers precisely nothing as an alternative.
That Democrats, and the NYT aren't openly advocating open borders does not mean that isn't the consequence of their position.l
As for a minority sector of the electorate, by all means check recent Gallup polling on the issue.
If a nationwide vote — which is what opponents of the electoral college so deeply desire — was to be had today, the wall would win by a landslide.
Which part prevents the NYT from calling it total insanity?
5
In Australia, the Conservatives routinely import the latest artificial problems from America to support the political wishes of their donors. Memorable examples have been wind turbine terror and the threat to remove tax exemption for charities that dare to discuss the needs of the people or planet they serve.
But America has Australia to thank for this latest nonsense about creating barriers to immigration out of concern for human safety. The Conservative Government here created a policy of "turning back the boats" to disrupt the oceanic flow of refugees to Australia.
It was a policy based in equal parts on xenophobia, racism, and meanness, but paraded as one grounded in concern for the wellbeing of those who might follow if a deterrent wasn't put in place. Namely, by making an example of refugees stuck in the limbo Hell of offshore processing, other potential refugees would do the right thing by dying somewhere else instead of in the waters around Australia.
Early in Trump's presidency, he gushed on the phone to former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about Australia's deterrent-driven policy. Whenever he takes a break from his racist fear mongering about the invading brown horde and claims that he just wants to save potential arrivals from the hazards of the perilous border crossing by discouraging them from coming, I hear the shameful echo of Australia's own small-heartedness.
5
As Colin Powell said and paraphrased here: the GOP broke the country by nominating Trump and they deserve to own the shame of what they did. McConnell, Ryan, and all of them. They are traitors and cowards who don't deserve their salaries, any pensions, or a voice at the table.
6
We cannot, Editorial Board, allow this complete absence of political reality--never mind decency and kindness--to become how we will forever be gauged and judged--by our allies, our enemies and ourselves--to become physical reality. We must fight this menace with everything good at our disposal.
Donald Trump is not only insane; he is evil. He is very much like Dracula. He was harmless as a candidate, smiling, white-faced as he beckoned us into his castle. But we, as a nation, empowered him by entering into an agreement with him. Without that, he was impotent; his threadbare charm and malice mere showpieces of a failed candidacy that became an even greater failed presidency, one that may take a century to undo.
This is not mere hyperbole. Our Civil War is only 153 years removed from the present. But stop to think about how that four-year struggle for the soul of a nation has played out since. We are enmeshed in regional and sectional and interstate hatreds, much to the detriment of our land. This presidency, with its threads of division and discord and disharmony and disunion, has become sucking tentacles which strangle us.
This president has made a scapegoat of refugees. He has stoked a nuclear fear in the hearts of those who are most susceptible to rancor and rage. This president has spent his life bending over the hot iron, smiting the red anvil with his anti-American creed, one that, unfortunately, has found a place in millions of hearts.
What do we do now, America?
9
@Red Sox, '04, '07, '13, ‘18,
God Bless you, Red Sox!
Your tireless editorializing is a wonder to behold!
You say: "After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach."
I say: "After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Republican lawmakers can come up with a better approach."
It's time for the R's to own up to their role as pathetic enablers.
9
@Dan: God runs the US, and the Republicans are his Messengers.
Donald is a cruel and unconscionable man. He launched his entire campaign instilling fear of the "other" by declaring Mexicans to be rapists. When he realized how well that worked among his supporters, he continued to play into their frenzied xenophobia by promoting the metaphorical wall.
In the process, Trump has never shown any feelings for those who are innocently caught up in his perverse obsession with a concrete tribute to himself, whether they be children and families from Honduras or children and families from the U.S. wondering where their next paycheck will come from.
It is tragically apparent that Trump has never felt empathy. As such, one can never expect him to understand the plight of others in humanitarian crises.
9
@Helen: In real life, one can find a welcome wherever one can add happiness.
@Helen
Trump is a monster drunk upon his own delusions, his own mob-enraging words.
HE MUST BE STOPPED!
The media needs to state the truth about Trump; he is mentally
ill; and this is the opinion of members of the American Psychiatric
Association who agree with Harvard Professor of Psychiatry,
Lance M. Dodes M.D. who stated this in his Letter To The Editors of The New York Times dated February 13, 2017.
Please Editors : re print Dr. Dodes Letter sent to you in order that
your readers fully understand the danger of Trump's mental
disorder of extreme narcissism ….NO MORE CONJECTURES..
just the Truth....which is your motto ...all the news that is fit (truth)
to print...Re Print Dr. Dodes Letter to You...and be honest about
what our country is up against...a seriously dangerous Man who
can ruin our nation.
4
I will never understand the cruelty of the republicans to allow this kind of abuse by Trump. His vindictiveness and cruelty will go down in history as an abomination to the decency of this Country. There must be some republican people of conscious to try and stop him.... for the horror and shame he is bringing to all areas of his presidency. Truly incomprehensible that he is allowed to continue. Hopefully, the years to come will show that the good and truth will win out... Mueller will prevail. And, his own adult children allowing their children to bear the future shame of the name, Trump.
7
@NGP: Without "sacrifice", what is there? Jesus died for their sins.
Oppositional Defiant disorder- Trump has every criteria in spades. Look it up. He will dig in come hell or high water. The more outlandish, the more he will defy reason. We have a mad king.
5
This is ridiculous. This is Our government.
Or is it?
1
@s.whether: The US has caused three generations of American schoolchildren to believe that the US is "under God". This has evidently caused many to conclude that government stands in the way of God's perfection of Heaven on Earth.
Disgusting. This administration is disgusting.
8
Borderline?!
5
Just call it a Munchausen syndrome by POTUS proxy.
The POTUS sets up a catastrophe and the rides in as the white knight to solve the disaster he himself created.
Our POTUS is about 3 quarts short of a gallon in being a rational leader.
6
All of this hopefully isn't surprising, or shouldn't, if it is surprising, given Trump's conduct during the elections, and his rhetoric since. Or, even his personal history, as described recently in the in-depth article by this paper about his family and business.
These things shouldn't be surprising. The question should be "what will be next?"
What's really left is for Trump to suddenly get the country into a war abroad, which is probably not so far-fetched cause it may be the only and best way he can cynically conjure up to increase his approval rating. My bet is if he can find a quick war he can fight and quickly bomb a place or some other action and look good, he will do it sooner or later.
The sad thing is all of these stunts and activities are well received in some influential quarters of the country, say, his backers in congress and his base. And they're covered and in so doing legitimized by the media, especially in the eyes of his base.
So, these crises and problems are likely to continue, from the border, to tariffs, cause if anybody would put themselves in Trump's shoes, what conclusion would one draw, aside from the fact that one can get away with almost anything?
5
Simple solution, enforce the current law which requires fines and/or prison for "employers" who hire undocumented workers in the first place - so as to dry-up the jobs and have them self-deport of their own violation. Why has this not even been mentioned or reported on? Hypocrisy. "Republican supporting" businesses want to keep the cheap, exploited workers; given they aren't required to pay them minimum wages, comply with overtime/40 hour work week, OSHA compliance mandates, etc.. We need to establish a humane "guest worker" program which guarantees them the full panoply of U.S. labor law protection while they are temporarily employed here awaiting their turn to legally establish permanent residency in our country. Additionally, DACA should be immediately enacted as well as foreign policy initiatives to assist alleviating the poverty and violence in the southern boarder counties they come from.
6
After this crisis, what will Limbaugh, Hannity and Coulter demand next?
8
@digger
Why aren't the Democrats negotiating with them? They are running the country along with Fox and Friends.
Is Mexico not paying for this too?
3
I spent thirty plus years living in Mexico and have dealt with this for years. Reality is far different from television:
1. Immigration has been a "hands off" issues for Republicans and Democrats for decades. No one has wanted to touch this issue.
2. You read about the "northward trek"by desperate immigrants through deserts, battling thirst, disease, and snakes. In reality the vast majority pay to be driven in buses by trafficking organizations to the POE's. The pictures you see of a severely pregnant woman with toddlers in each arm are staged for the media. Did she walk 2200 miles from Tegucigalpa to Tijuana? No, she rode a bus.
3. Building a wall would take years and is virtually impossible for two reasons:
a. Geography. The Texas Big Bend like the Grand Canyon. Deep canyons, high mountains, etc.
b. Land ownership: 98 percent of land in Arizona and New Mexico adjacent to Mexico is public land. 98 percent of Texas land adjacent to Mexico is privately owned...eminent domain issues in courts for years.
4. U.S. State Dept has treated Mexico as a "special case" for decades. It is not.....
a. Mexico is a foreign country
b. Mexico is not our friend or ally and never will be.
c. Corruption: The Mexican Government is totally complicit in allowing these immigrants to transit its territory. Extensive bribes make it happen.
5. Mexico has the military, police and intelligence assets to end this completely.
If Trump wants to win, put the pressure all on Mexico City where it belongs.
6
"After two years of watching this administration run amok, surely Democratic lawmakers can come up with a better approach"
It's not the Democrats who have to come up with a better approach... it's the Republicans who have to find a way to rein in this insane president*
9
Border insanity truly rests with the Democrats. That is why Chuck Schumer at the white House in front of the cameras asked to go behind closed doors while President Trump wanted transparency on the issue. Mrs. Pelosi called for an investigation into 2 illegal infants who died in custody. She never mentions the 418 children who died being dragged across a ranch or desert. Is that child abuse dragging your child across the desert at night? Trumps wants to stop illegal immigration, the Democrats with their sanctuary cities look to promote it. President Obama was a big believer in illegal immigration even encouraging them to vote illegally and telling Border guards to "stand down"not do their jobs and hand out diapers and waters to the illegals as they rush the border.
1
This is what happens when you elect a ego driven, spiteful incompetent with delusions of grandeur and a bunch of worthless conspirators in the senate.
What is it going to take for us as a country to have our collective "emperor has no clothes" moment?
There is nothing "borderline" about the insanity that is coming from the white house, it's full on and so far has no known cure.
12
Ms. Pelosi is right. Giving in to this clown is immoral. If he gets the $, he will do this again. So, as justice grinds along we have to pray that there is no National emergency or disaster (though a hypersonic nuclear delivery system developed by Russia seems like an emergency). This crew (posse, gang, family, whatever, it is not a professional or executive administration) does not have the skills or expertise to deal with any fast developing national disaster or emergency. We need a smarter, cooler, skilled hand on the tiller.
Don't count on McConnell, he's pouting because his pal in the White House dissed him on the budget passed by the Senate. How's it feel buddy? Remember what you did to the previous POTUS?
10
@CMK: McConnell is the most puzzling cipher in the whole Republican Party. I see nothing in him to like.
“children are being piled into holding cells where they fall ill — or worse. . . .”
Worse?
They die. Just say it!
8
@Mark
I wonder how much of the money for "humanitarian" efforts will go to buying small coffins for the children who die in custody of the border patrol? How much for the legal awards to the women who are raped by that same border patrol?
NYT has never said a word about the $$ cost of Afghanistan (doesn't even provide the numbers), or of the absolutely ridiculous spending at the Pentagon, not a peep.
The political asylum argument is a red herring and it's use is an unethical travesty. People are bum rushing the US border because they want gain, and because they are invited to by entities like this paper.
So this disingenuous prattle about costs for what would most likely be in the long term future a necessity anyway as South and Central America radicalize, is hypocrisy. At least if you secure the border by some means, you get the money spent on jobs here, a secure border and perhaps less heroin. We blow billions in Afghanistan that amounts to nothing whatsoever.
2
The New York Times needs to stop going after Trump and focus on the Republican Party. There is plenty of evidence that Trump is delusional and most likely severely mentally ill, but Republicans refuse to do anything about it. Trump, by listening to Fox News, puts forward ideas that paints a primitive narrative they are interested in telling and selling (Immigrants bad/ no wall is no security/ fight the liberal elite). By supporting and facilitating Trump's absurd ideas Republicans hope to keep his base voting for them into the future whether or not his actions are good for the country.
The NYT needs to point out that these actions ultimately serve the wealthy who have benefited by their actions so far and will still benefit when their policies turn toxic. The wealthy do not fear a recession - the degradation in expectations of their workers, the disruption in a sense of normalcy, the fear that is generated, and the fact that they gain a greater proportion of wealth after a recession lead to further the entrenchment of their primacy. Trump, to the wealthy, is a gift that keeps on giving.
This shutdown is just the latest stunt and should be rejected as harshly and resoundingly as possible. It is Trump that is causing the pain, Trump that is damaging our country, and the Republican Party which is allowing him to do it as they sit idly by.
The NYT should lead the other independent news outlets to come together and report what is going on in bold and fearless terms.
12
Hey, New York Times Editorial Board
If Trump calls a national emergency, write an editorial saying he needs to resign.
It's time.
11
Pass a law requiring Trump to go through TSA checkpoints and fly coach. See how fast the shutdown ends.
10
The stubborn stable genius sure has a warped sense of priorities.
7
Trump's outrageous demand to build a wall is obscene but not surprising. From day one Trump has proven he doesn't have the intelligence or honesty to be president. This latest absurdity and folly is an escalation of all the prior miscalculations and lies that Trump has promulgated during his two years. It's hard to believe that our nation will be more dysfunctional under Trump after thos wall nightmare. But it will under a corrupt and very incompetent Trump administration. I'm hoping that Mueller's report will be the magic bullet that finally gives us some semblance of closure and ends this malevolent Trump madness
8
@g.i.
We talk a lot about various constitutional amendments that are needed but I have not seen this one: qualifications for a person running for president. Age and birthright citizenship are fine, but we need someone with government service experience as well - even as dog catcher. The idea that being president is a vanity project for someone with money and time on their hands has to be curtailed. No more neophytes!
2